postura

Forms

postura f (plural posturas)^[1] Old Spanish wrote postura and the plural posturas from the first records, and enpostura occurs once.^[2] A learned variant positura, now obsolete, is found in Alfonso de Palencia.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish postura, inherited from Latin positūra (“position, arrangement”).^[1][4][3] Corominas treats it among the derivatives of poner and dates it to a charter of 1200.^[3][5]

The Latin noun is formed from the stem of positus, the past participle of pōnō (“to place, put”), with the suffix -ūra.^[6][7] Lucretius already used it for the position or arrangement of bodies and particles.^[6][8] De Vaan explains the Latin verb as a contracted compound of the prefix po- and sinō (“to let, place”).^[9]

The same Latin noun is Italian postura, and French posture and English posture come from it as well.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A document from Tórtoles of 1200 has postura several times.^[2][3] Until the time of Juan Ruiz and Don Juan Manuel the word meant “agreement, covenant”.^[3] The first hit of the CDH, in the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250), has this legal sense: Si por auentura el pleito o la postura fuere fecha en dia de uiernes “if by chance the lawsuit or the agreement is made on a Friday”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century the word belonged to the language of law: charters and Alfonso X's laws speak of posturas made between parties or by the king.^[11][12] Alfonso's Judizios de las estrellas (1254) uses it for the arrangement of the astrological houses, and his book of games (1283) for the stake a player risks.^[12] The modern senses, the way a person or thing is placed, appear with Alfonso de Palencia (1490) and Nebrija.^[3]

Covarrubias (1611) gives two articles: the price at which something is put up for sale or what is wagered, and the bearing or stance a person takes, as in fencing.^[13] The Diccionario de Autoridades (1737) adds the planting of young trees and the price that the authorities set for foodstuffs, with a passage of Cervantes on the price of meat in Seville.^[14] By 1843 the Academy also listed the bid at an auction, an agreement, a wager, the egg of a bird, a seedling to be transplanted and the old phrase a postura de regidor.^[15]

In Cuba it named the young tobacco plant ready for transplanting, and the Canarian tobacco growers of La Palma took it from there.^[16] In Ecuador it is a complete suit of clothes, and in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay each wearing of a garment.^[17][18] In Leonese it is also a ration of straw or fodder for the animals.^[19][3]

Timeline

• 1196 – the earliest record that the DTME and the CORDE give for the word.^[7][20]
• 1200 – a charter from Tórtoles, the first record for Corominas and DEMel.^[3][2]
• 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes uses it for a legal agreement.^[11]
• 1254 – Alfonso X's Judizios de las estrellas uses it for the arrangement of the houses.^[12]
• 1283 – Alfonso X's book of games uses it for the stake in a game of chance.^[12]
• 1490 – Alfonso de Palencia uses the modern senses and the learned positura.^[3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin positio and positus as its equivalents.^[21]
• 1517 – the first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo, of tree seedlings.^[22]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records the price of goods for sale, a wager, and a person's bearing.^[13]
• 1737 – the Diccionario de Autoridades adds the planting of trees and the price set by the authorities.^[14]
• 1851 – a Canarian newspaper uses it for the young tobacco plant.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. The posture or position of the body, or of a part of it, of a person or animal: Dormía en una postura muy incómoda.^[4][1]
2. An attitude or stance that someone takes on an issue: El sindicato no cambió de postura.^[4][23]
3. The planting of young trees or plants, and a seedling that is transplanted.^[4]
4. The price a buyer offers for something sold or leased, especially a bid at an auction (subasta).^[4][23]
5. A pact or agreement.^[4]
6. The sum wagered in a bet, and in games of chance the stake of each player.^[4]
7. The laying of eggs, and the eggs laid at one time.^[4][23]
8. (historical) The price that the authorities set for foodstuffs.^[4]
9. (Álava, Guipúzcoa) A land measure of 34.26 square metres.^[4]
10. (Chile, Argentina, Uruguay) Each wearing of a garment.^[18]

Related words

• poner
• postureo
• apostura
• compostura
• posición
• Latin positūra
• English posture

Usage notes

Hacer postura means to take part as a bidder in an auction.^[4][23] Postura del sol “sunset” is recorded by Moliner.^[23]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. postura
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 607
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. postura
5. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. poner
6. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. postura
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 581
11. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. postura
12. ^ a b c d Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. postura
13. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1225
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 340
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 580
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. postura
17. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 679
18. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. postura
19. ^ Le Men Loyer, Janick (2002–2012), Léxico del leonés actual, 4 vols., León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación San Isidoro; electronic version, Universidad de León, p. s.v. postura
20. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. postura
21. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 400
22. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. postura
23. ^ a b c d e Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. postura