prisión

Forms

prisión f (plural prisiones)^[1] Old Spanish wrote presón, preson, prison and prision; the form with pres- is still found in Juan Ruiz.^[2][3] Presión for prisión still occurs in 16th-century documents from Mexico and Panama.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish presón, inherited from Latin prehensio (“a seizing, arrest”).^[3][5][6][1] Corominas and the Breve diccionario call it a semi-learned word, Wiktionary a semi-learned borrowing, while the Vox dictionary treats it as a popular, inherited word.^[3][5][1][7] The learned doublet is prensión.^[1][3]

The same Latin word is Portuguese prisão, Catalan presó and French prison;^[8][9][10] Old Aragonese had preson.^[8][9][10] French reached its form through a contracted *prensio and the influence of pris, the participle of prendre.^[10] Gómez de Silva notes that the change from “act of seizing” to “jail” is first seen in French, around 1100.^[11]

The Latin noun is formed from prehendō (“to seize”) with the suffix -tiō.^[1] In early Latin it meant the arrest of a person, and the right of some magistrates to make arrests.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy) uses the word for capture: „al conde don Remont a presón le á tomado” “he has taken Count Ramón prisoner”.^[13][2] The Liber Regum (c. 1194–1211) already uses it for a place: the king „misolo en Luna en la preson” “put him in the prison at Luna”.^[13]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose has the act of seizing, the jail, the chains and fetters (prisones) and the capture of a town.^[14] Corominas dates the sense “jail” only to 1492, in Diego de San Pedro, but the Liber Regum and the Alfonsine Lapidario already use the word for a place of confinement.^[3][13][14] Juan Manuel used it for an animal caught as prey, and Nebrija gave prisión de pies and prisión de manos for fetters and handcuffs.^[3]

In falconry it names the prey a falcon takes flying low and the tie that holds a hunting bird.^[6] In law it is a penalty of deprivation of liberty, between reclusión and arresto.^[6] In Santander and Asturias it is the tether of cattle in the stall, and in Leonese a chain that ties cattle to the manger.^[3][15] Figuratively it is anything that binds, including bonds of affection.^[6][16]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has presón “capture”.^[13][2]
• c. 1194–1211 – the Liber Regum uses preson for a prison.^[13]
• 1208 – the Cortes de León use the spelling prision.^[13]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for a place where someone is held.^[14]
• 1270–1284 – the Estoria de España uses the plural prisones for chains.^[14]
• 1492 – Diego de San Pedro, the first use for “jail” in the DCECH.^[3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija records prisión de pies and prisión de manos.^[3][17]
• 1525 – the first record in the Americas, cárcel e presión in Mexico City.^[4]
• c. 1570 – first record of the derivative prisionero.^[5][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of seizing or catching someone or something.^[6]
2. A prison, jail: a place where prisoners are held: Lo llevaron a la prisión de la capital.^[6][1]
3. (falconry) The prey a falcon takes while flying low.^[6]
4. (falconry) The tie that holds a bird used for hunting.^[6]
5. Anything that ties a person or thing down or holds it back.^[6]
6. (figurative) A close bond of feeling between people.^[6][16]
7. (law) A custodial sentence, less severe than reclusión and more than arresto: Le impusieron cuatro años de prisión.^[6]
8. (obsolete) The taking or occupation of something.^[6]
9. (in the plural) Fetters, chains and similar means of holding prisoners.^[6]

Word family

• prisionero
• aprisionar

Related words

• prender
• preso
• prensión
• Latin prehensio

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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. prisión
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 638
4. ^ 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. presión
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. prender
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. prisión
7. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. prisión
8. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
9. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 2710
10. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México
12. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ 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. prisión
14. ^ 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. prisión
15. ^ 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. prisión
16. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. prisión
17. ^ 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. prisión