pronunciar

Forms

pronunciar (first-person singular present pronuncio, first-person singular preterite pronuncié, past participle pronunciado)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin prōnūntiō (“to proclaim, announce; to utter”), recorded from 1220–1250.^[2][3][1] French prononcer is likewise borrowed from Latin, in the early 12th century.^[4]

This verb is formed from Latin prō- (“forth, in public”) + nūntiō (“to announce”).^[5][1][6] nūntiō comes from nūntius (“messenger; message”), whose further origin is unclear: it has been traced to a root Proto-Indo-European *neuH- (“to cry”) and to novus (“new”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word to 1220–1250, the period of Berceo.^[2] The CDH's earliest hits are in Berceo, all in later copies: in the Sacrificio de la misa the patriarchs todos los sacrificios a Él pronunciaron “all proclaimed the sacrifices to Him”, and in the Loores de Nuestra Señora the children go pronunciando la grant resurrección “proclaiming the great resurrection”.^[8] The first hit without a later copy, in the Aragonese Vidal Mayor (c. 1250), has the legal sense: a judgement pronunciado contra drejto “pronounced against the law”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense “to pass sentence” is frequent in medieval charters, as in a Carta de sentencia of 1282, pronunçio per sentençia “I pronounced by sentence”.^[8] Nebrija gives Latin pronuncio and enuncio as its equivalents.^[9] Covarrubias in 1611 defines it as “to declare”, as in pronouncing words or a sentence.^[10] Autoridades has the articulation of letters and words and, in law, the publishing of a sentence.^[11]

The Academy's dictionary of 1817 added “to foretell”, which Salvá in 1846 said he had never seen used.^[12][13] In 1855 Baralt condemned as Gallicisms the uses “to give one's opinion”, “to command”, “to bring out (a feature) strongly” in painting, and the reflexive “to rise in revolt”.^[14] The Academy admitted the sense “to rouse to revolt”, mostly reflexive, in 1899, and the noun pronunciamiento “military uprising” is recorded from 1817.^[15][2] The current dictionary also has “to deliver (a speech)”, “to accentuate” and the reflexive “to declare oneself for or against”.^[3]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – first record, in Berceo.^[2][8]
• c. 1250 – the Vidal Mayor uses it of a judgement.^[8]
• 1282 – pronunçio per sentençia in a judgement charter.^[8]
• 1433 – first record of pronunciación.^[2]
• 1537 – first record from the Americas, in Puerto Rico, of pronouncing a sentence.^[16]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records pronouncing words and pronouncing a sentence.^[10]
• 1817 – first record of pronunciamiento.^[2]
• 1884 – the Academy defines it as “to emit and articulate sounds in order to speak”.^[17]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary admits the sense “to rise in revolt”.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. To pronounce: to produce and articulate the sounds of speech: Le cuesta pronunciar la erre.^[3][1]
2. To deliver a speech or lecture.^[3][1]
3. To determine, resolve; also reflexive.^[3]
4. To bring out, accentuate; also reflexive: Con la edad se le pronunció la nariz.^[3]
5. To rouse to revolt; mostly reflexive, to rise against the government.^[3][18]
6. (law) To pass or publish a sentence or ruling.^[3]
7. (reflexive) To declare oneself for or against someone or something.^[3]

Word family

• pronunciación
• pronunciamiento
• pronunciable
• pronunciador

Related words

• pronuncio
• anunciar
• denunciar
• enunciar
• renunciar
• nuncio
• Latin nūntius
• French prononcer

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. nuncio
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. pronunciar
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 575
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ 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. pronunciar
9. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 401
10. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1232
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 402
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 708
13. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 887
14. ^ Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado, p. 560
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 817
16. ^ 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. prenunciar
17. ^ 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
18. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. pronunciar