pretensión

Forms

pretensión f (plural pretensiones)^[1]

Etymology

The DLE derives it from Spanish pretender.^[2] Corominas also lists it among the derivatives of the verb.^[3][4] The 2001 edition of the Academy's dictionary, Moliner and García de Diego give instead Latin praetensio as its source, and the Academy's editions of 1884 and 1899 derived it from the old participle pretenso, which goes back to praetensus.^{[5][6][7][8][9]}

The Spanish verb comes from praetendō (“to stretch out in front”), hence “to put forward as an excuse”, and is recorded from 1570.^[3][4] The Latin verb is made of prae- (“before”) and tendō (“to stretch”).^[1][10] De Vaan derives the Latin verb from the root Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch”), which also gave teneō.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is Mármol in 1570, the passage the Diccionario de Autoridades quotes.^[3][12] The CDH has earlier hits in the royal chancery: in 1488 King Ferdinand writes to the Master of Rhodes about a knight's claim to a post, no sabemos con que fundamiento toma aquel tal pretension “we do not know on what ground that man makes such a claim”.^[13] The first sense is thus a claim or demand, often in a lawsuit: Santa Cruz's chronicle (1491–1516) speaks of the witnesses with whom the parties meant to prove their pretensión.^[13]

Semantic evolution

The Diccionario de Autoridades has two senses: the effort made to obtain something one desires, and a right, well or ill founded, that one believes one has to something.^[12] The Academy's 1884 edition added the phrase barajarle a uno una pretensión “to make someone's suit fail”.^[8]

In the 19th century the sense of vain or excessive aspiration (tener pretensiones, hombre de pretensiones) spread;^[1] Baralt condemned it as a Gallicism, and Corominas says Baralt saw many senses of the word as French.^[14][3] The DLE now gives that sense, mostly in the plural, and a legal one, the petition put before a judge as the object of a suit.^[2] In the Antilles, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela it also means conceit or vanity.^[15][16]

Timeline

• 1488 – a letter of King Ferdinand to the Master of Rhodes.^[13]
• 1491–1516 – Alonso de Santa Cruz's chronicle of the Catholic Monarchs uses it of a party's claim in a lawsuit.^[13]
• 1570 – Mármol, Corominas's first record.^[3][4]
• 1625 – the first record from the Americas, in Lima.^[17]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines the suit and the claimed right.^[12]
• 1855 – Baralt condemns hombre de pretensiones “a conceited man” as a Gallicism.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy records barajarle a uno una pretensión.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A suit or effort to obtain something one wants: Presentó su pretensión al cargo ante el consejo.^[2][12]
2. A claim: a right, well or ill founded, that one believes one has to something.^[2][1]
3. (often in the plural) An ambitious or excessive aspiration; pretension.^[2][6]
4. (law) The petition put before a judge as the main object of a suit, to obtain a ruling against another party.^[2]
5. (Latin America) conceit, vanity.^[15][16]

Related words

• pretender
• pretendiente
• pretencioso
• tender
• tensión

Usage notes

The derivative pretencioso “pretentious” is a borrowing of French prétentieux, recorded from 1855.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. pretensión
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 459
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. tender
5. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. pretensión
6. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. pretensión
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. pretensión
8. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 862
9. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 809
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. pretensión
13. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. pretensión
14. ^ a b Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado, p. 554
15. ^ a b Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 682
16. ^ a b Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. pretensión
17. ^ 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. pretensión