preámbulo

Forms

preámbulo m (plural preámbulos)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin praeambulum, a learned word.^[1][2][3] The DLE and Moliner give the source as the Latin adjective praeambulus (“walking in front”).^[4][5] The Medieval Latin noun is the neuter of that Late Latin adjective, which is formed with prae- (“before”) and ambulō (“to walk”).^[2][3][1] Wiktionary derives the adjective from a verb praeambulō, made of the same parts.^[1] The adjective is post-classical: Martianus Capella uses it in the 5th century.^[6][7]

Corominas lists the word among the learned derivatives of that Latin verb, beside ambular and deambular; amblar is the popular Spanish outcome of that verb.^[8][9] The same Medieval Latin word is French préambule, recorded in 1314, and Portuguese preâmbulo.^[7][10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest reliable record in the CDH is the Crónica de San Isidoro (before 1385), whose first part begins with lo preambulo of its books.^[12] An earlier CDH hit in the Fuero de Sepúlveda is only a heading in square brackets.^[12] Villena (1427–1428) heads a section prohemio ho preámbulo, the introduction to his translation.^[12] Corominas, who knew none of these, dates the noun to 1438 and the adjective to 1427 in the BDELC, and to about 1550, in Villalobos, in the DCECH.^[9][8]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word named an introduction to a text: Lope de Barrientos (1434–1437) numbers the chapters of his treatise preanbulo segundo and so on, and Alfonso de la Torre lays down preánbulos to explain what follows.^[12] The Academy's 1817 dictionary added a colloquial sense, a needless roundabout way of speaking used to avoid a difficulty.^[13] The 1899 edition described it as an impertinent digression before coming to the point, and the DLE has dropped the word “impertinent”.^[14][4] A Mexican text of 1591 already complains of speaking con tantos preámbulos.^[15] The phrase sin preámbulos “without beating about the bush” is very common.^[5]

Timeline

• before 1385 – preambulo in the Crónica de San Isidoro.^[12]
• 1427 – first record of the word as an adjective, according to the BDELC.^[9]
• 1427–1428 – Villena writes prohemio ho preámbulo in his glossed Aeneid (copy of 1442).^[12]
• 1438 – first record of the noun according to the BDELC.^[9]
• c. 1550 – the DCECH's first record, in Villalobos.^[8]
• 1560 – the first record from the Americas, in Yucatán.^[15]
• 1817 – the Academy records the colloquial sense “roundabout digression”.^[13]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology from Latin praeambulus “that goes before”.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A preamble, exordium or preface: what is said before beginning to narrate, prove, order or ask something: El preámbulo del tratado explica sus fines.^[4][5][1]
2. A rodeo or digresión before getting to the point, often in the plural: sin preámbulos.^[4][5]

Related words

• ambular
• deambular
• amblar
• prólogo
• proemio

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 563
3. ^ a b Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. preámbulo
4. ^ a b c d 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. preámbulo
5. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. preámbulo
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 240
9. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ambular
10. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 2680
11. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. preâmbulo
12. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. preámbulo
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 695
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 804
15. ^ a b 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. preámbulo