pronunciación

Forms

pronunciación f (plural pronunciaciones)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned borrowing, borrowed from Latin prōnūntiātiō (“proclamation; delivery”).^[2][1][3] Corominas lists it among the words of the family of nuncio, beside pronunciar.^[4] DICCA-XV treats it as a derivative of that verb, itself taken from Latin.^[5]

The Latin noun is formed of prōnūntiō (“to proclaim, announce”) and the suffix -tiō.^[6][1] The verb comes from nūntius (“messenger”).^[4][5]

The same Latin word gave Portuguese pronunciação, Catalan pronunciació, French prononciation and Italian pronunciazione.^[1][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DEMel's first primary record is pronunciaciones in a document of the monastery of Sahagún of 1314.^[9] The early texts use the word in law, for a judge's or arbitrator's pronouncement: in Juan Ruiz's Libro de buen amor (1330–1343, in a copy of about 1415) the judge Don Ximio says he can make good in his pronunçiaçión what the law requires.^[10] Arbitration charters of 1393 and 1419 list sentençia and pronunciaçion side by side.^[10] This matches the Medieval Latin sense “arbitral award”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The sense “uttering of letters and words” is in Nebrija's dictionaries of 1492 and about 1495.^[5] Autoridades (1737) gave three senses: the expression of letters or words by the voice, the fifth part of rhetoric (the speaker's delivery and gesture), and in law the publication of a decree or sentence.^[12] The rhetorical sense is still in the DLE, labelled as part of the old rhetoric.^[2]

From the 16th century writers in the Americas comment on the pronunciation of the indigenous languages (Bogotá, 1550) and of Spanish.^[13] Vox also records a public statement for or against something, and Wiktionary the sense “pronouncement”.^[14][1]

Timeline

• 1314 – pronunciaciones in a document of the monastery of Sahagún.^[9]
• 1330–1343 – Juan Ruiz uses pronunçiaçión for a judge's ruling (copy of about 1415).^[10]
• 1433 – date of first record given by Corominas.^[4][3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin pronuntiatio and enuntiatio as equivalents.^[5]
• 1550 – first record from the Americas, in Bogotá.^[13]
• 1737 – Autoridades gives the senses of speech, rhetoric and law.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy defines it as the act and effect of pronouncing, with the etymology from Latin.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. pronunciation: the act and manner of pronouncing sounds and words: Tiene una pronunciación muy clara del inglés.^[2][16][1]
2. The act of pronouncing a judgment or making a public statement; a pronouncement.^[2][14][1]
3. (rhetoric, historical) The part of ancient rhetoric that taught the speaker to control face and gesture.^[2][16]

Related words

• pronunciar
• nuncio
• anunciar
• Latin prōnūntiātiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. pronunciación
3. ^ a b 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. 498
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. nuncio
5. ^ a b c d 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. pronunciación
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. prōnuntiātiō
7. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. pronunciação
8. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. pronunciació
9. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. pronunciación
10. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. pronunciación
11. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. pronuntiatio
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5
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. pronunciación
14. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. pronunciación
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 871
16. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. pronunciación