provocación

Forms

provocación f (plural provocaciones)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin prōvocātiō (“a challenge; an appeal”).^[2][1][3] The Latin noun is formed from prōvocō (“to call forth, challenge”), from prō- (“forth”) and vocō (“to call”).^[1][4] De Vaan traces the related noun vōx (“voice”) to Proto-Indo-European *wṓkʷs.^[5] Corominas lists the noun under voz, with provocar, which he dates from about 1440, and dates it from Nebrija.^[6][7]

The same Latin noun is Catalan provocació, Portuguese provocação, French provocation and Italian provocazione.^[1][8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record in the CDH is a translation of Jacques de Vitry's history of Jerusalem made after 1350, where people sinned por la provocaçion de aquellos “at the instigation of those”.^[10] Pero López de Ayala's translation of Livy (c. 1400) uses it for the Roman citizen's right of appeal, provocación al pueblo, and a medical text of about 1400 for purging and vomiting brought on by remedies.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The Latin word meant a challenge and, in law, an appeal against a sentence.^[3][4] In Spanish the usual sense from the 15th century was incitement, often to devotion or to anger: Nebrija has provocacion a ira.^[10][11] The Diccionario de Autoridades (1737) defined it as the act of provoking and the motive or cause of provoking.^[12] Today it also names a crime, the public incitement of others to commit an offence, and in medicine the giving of an antigen to provoke an immune response.^[2][13] Words or gestures that arouse anger or sexual desire are now called una provocación.^[14][15]

Timeline

• after 1350 – the translation of Jacques de Vitry: por la provocaçion de aquellos.^[10]
• 1385 – Juan Fernández de Heredia, Gran crónica de España.^[10]
• c. 1400 – Pero López de Ayala's translation of Livy: provocación al pueblo.^[10]
• 1437 – the Tostado's Libro de las paradojas: provocaçion a devoçion.^[10]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija: provocacion a ira, the first record Corominas gives.^[11][7]
• 1571 – Mexico City: provocación a yra.^[16]
• 1737 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or effect of provoking; a provocation.^[2][1][15]
2. An act, word or gesture meant to anger, challenge or arouse someone: Aquel comentario fue una provocación.^[15][14]
3. (law) The crime of publicly inciting someone to commit an offence.^[2][14]
4. (medicine) The giving of an antigen to a sensitized organism to produce an immune response.^[13]

Related words

• provocar
• provocador
• provocativo
• voz
• Latin prōvocātiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. provocación
3. ^ a b Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto
4. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 845
7. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. voz
8. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll
9. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon
10. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. provocación
11. ^ a b 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
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. provocación
13. ^ a b Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es
14. ^ a b c Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial
15. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
16. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies