preeminente

Forms

preeminente m or f (masculine and feminine plural preeminentes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin praeēminēns, the present participle of praeēmineō (“to project; to excel”).^[2][3][1] Corominas treats it with eminente and dates it to the beginning of the 17th century; the CDH and DICCA-XV have it much earlier.^[4][5][6][7]

The Latin verb is prae- (“before”) added to ēmineō (“to stand out”), itself formed with ē- (“out of”).^[1] Corominas connects the simple verb with minae (“projections of a wall or rock”).^[5] Echegaray gives Italian preminente and French prééminent as the corresponding words.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest CDH hit, in a translation of Jacques de Vitry's history of Jerusalem made after 1350, has the form preminente: the Holy Sepulchre is aquel lugar preminente among the holy places.^[6] In 15th-century songbooks it praises kings, Rey graçioso preminente, ¡o rey preheminente!.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Old texts spell the word preminente and preheminente as well as preeminente; the reduced forms are still found in Peru and Puebla in 1541.^[6][9] Autoridades defined it as “sublime, superior, honorific and placed higher than another”, with quotations on high offices in the Church and on a place in the sky.^[10] The 1884 edition of the Academy's dictionary gave the Latin source.^[11] Today it describes a rank, post or place above others in importance, as in un lugar preeminente.^[2][12][13]

Timeline

• after 1350 – preminente in the translation of Jacques de Vitry's history of Jerusalem.^[6]
• 1442 – the first record in DICCA-XV's texts of the Crown of Aragon.^[7]
• c. 1455 – Alfonso de Velasco writes más preeminente.^[6]
• 1541 – the first records from the Americas, in Peru and Puebla.^[9]
• early 17th century – the first record for Corominas.^[5]
• 1737 – Autoridades defines it.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. preeminent, superior to others in rank or importance; honorific: Ocupa un puesto preeminente en la empresa.^[2][12][1]
2. Placed higher than the rest.^[2][13]

Related words

• preeminencia
• eminente
• eminencia
• prominente
• inminente

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. preeminente
3. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 430
4. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 632
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. eminente
6. ^ 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. preeminente
7. ^ a b 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. preeminente
8. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 924
9. ^ 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. preeminente
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 352
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 858
12. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. preeminente
13. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. preeminente