pretencioso

Forms

pretencioso (feminine pretenciosa, masculine plural pretenciosos, feminine plural pretenciosas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French prétentieux.^[2][1][3][4] Vox dates the borrowing to the 19th century.^[5] The French adjective is formed from prétention with the suffix -eux.^[1] It belongs to the family of pretender, from Latin praetendō (“to stretch out in front; to allege”), and of tender.^[4][3][5]

Corominas calls it a galicism that is still very common despite the protests of Baralt and his successors.^[4] The ⟨c⟩ follows the French spelling: the purists said that, if accepted, it ought to be written pretensioso, after pretensión, and some writers did so.^[6][7][4]

Semantic evolution

Baralt's dictionary of galicisms (1855) rejected pretensioso, and recommended presuntuoso, afectado or vanaglorioso instead, or for a style afectado, amanerado or altisonante.^[8] The American purists repeated the objection: Gagini in Costa Rica, Román in Chile and Tobar in Ecuador, who found it in Blest Gana and Blasco Ibáñez.^[6][9][7] Batres Jáuregui noted that the Academy had not admitted it, although it was used in Guatemala, in other republics and in Spain.^[10] Alemany's dictionary had it in 1917 with the gloss presuntuoso.^[11]

Boyd-Bowman's lexicon has an isolated hombre prettencioso in Venezuela in 1595, then pretensioso in Nicaragua in 1856.^[12] Today it is used of people and also of things meant to look luxurious or elegant, and of works with excessive claims to originality or depth.^[13] In Paraguay the noun names a person who keeps a relationship with someone for profit.^[14]

Timeline

• 1855 – Corominas's first date; in the same year Baralt condemns the word as a galicism.^[3][8]
• 1856 – the spelling pretensioso is recorded in Nicaragua.^[12]
• 1892 – Batres Jáuregui notes that the Academy has not admitted it.^[10]
• 1917 – Alemany's dictionary includes it.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. pretentious, presumptuous: claiming to be more than one is: No quiero sonar pretencioso, pero el plan fue idea mía.^[2][1]
2. Of things: meant to give an impression of luxury or elegance; showy.^[13][5]
3. Of a literary or other work: with excessive claims to originality, intellectual depth or importance.^[13]

Noun

1. A pretentious person.^[13]
2. (Paraguay) A person who keeps up a relationship with someone in order to profit from it.^[14]

Related words

• pretender
• pretensión
• presuntuoso
• French prétentieux

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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. pretencioso
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. tender
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 459
5. ^ a b c Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. pretencioso
6. ^ a b Gagini, Carlos (1893), Diccionario de barbarismos y provincialismos de Costa Rica, San José: Tipografía Nacional, p. 511
7. ^ a b Tobar, Carlos R. (1907), Consultas al Diccionario de la lengua, 2nd ed., Barcelona: Imprenta de la Revista Ibérica, p. 388
8. ^ a b Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado
9. ^ Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José, p. 442
10. ^ a b Batres Jáuregui, Antonio (1892), Vicios del lenguaje y provincialismos de Guatemala, Guatemala: Encuadernación y Tipografía Nacional, p. 469
11. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1705
12. ^ 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. pretencioso
13. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. pretencioso
14. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer