prolífico

Forms

prolífico (feminine prolífica, masculine plural prolíficos, feminine plural prolíficas)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish prole + -fico: the BDELC and the DCECH list it among the compounds of the noun.^[2][3] The base was taken in 1607 from Latin proles (“offspring, progeny”), and the DLE derives the adjective directly from the Latin noun with the suffix.^[2][4] Moliner, Alemany and the Academy's 1884 dictionary explain the second part by facere (“to make”).^[5][6][7] Autoridades and Terreros give prolificus as its Latin equivalent, and Terreros also gives French prolifique.^[8][9]

The Latin noun is formed from prō- and the root of alō (“to nourish”), as in suboles and indoles.^[10][11] De Vaan reconstructs that verb as Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-e/o-.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DCECH and the BDELC date it about 1700, from a quotation in Autoridades of Álvarez de Toledo's Historia de la Iglesia: Dio a unas y a otras su bendición prolífica, para que creciessen y se multiplicassen “He gave both the one and the other his fruitful blessing, that they might grow and multiply”.^[3][2][8] Autoridades defines it as having the power to produce.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Terreros described it as having the qualities suited to engender.^[9] The first record from the Americas, Lima 1792, speaks of a fertilising licor prolífico.^[13] The Academy's 1843 dictionary defined it as having the power to engender.^[14]

The figurative sense, of a writer or artist who produces many works, is in the Academy's dictionary of 2001 and in Moliner.^[15][5] Vox also uses it of anything very extensive, such as a career, and the DTME gives the medical sense “able to produce abundant offspring”.^[16][17]

Timeline

• c. 1700 – first record, in Álvarez de Toledo's Historia de la Iglesia.^[3][8]
• 1786–1793 – Terreros gives French prolifique and Latin prolificus as equivalents.^[9]
• 1792 – first record from the Americas, in Lima.^[13]
• 1843 – in the Academy's dictionary.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy derives it from Latin proles and facere.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. prolific, fertile: that reproduces, or can reproduce, in abundance: Los ratones son animales muy prolíficos.^[4][5][1]
2. Of a writer, artist and the like: who creates many works.^[4][5]

Related words

• prole
• proletario
• prolífero
• proliferación

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. prole
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 659
4. ^ a b c 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. prolífico
5. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. prolífico
6. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1376
7. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 870
8. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, s.v. prolífico
9. ^ a b c Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 3, 223
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ 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. prolífico
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 592
15. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe
16. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. prolífico
17. ^ Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. prolífico