publicano

Forms

publicano m (plural publicanos)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin pūblicānus (“tax farmer”), a learned word.^[2][1][3] The DCECH and the BDELC list it under público, with which it shares its Latin root.^[3][4]

The Latin word is an adjective “of the public revenue” made from pūblicus (“public, of the state”) with the suffix -ānus, and as a noun named a contractor for public works and supplies and, especially, for the collection of taxes.^[5][6][1] The same word gave French publicain and English publican.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Almerich's Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy), of the apostle Matthew: fue del tribu de Levi e fue publicano “he was of the tribe of Levi and was a publican”.^[8][9] The word entered Spanish through the Gospels, where the tax collectors of Judaea are called publicans, and the 13th-century Spanish New Testaments use it in the same sense.^[8][10]

Semantic evolution

In medieval texts the word mostly refers to the Gospel figures: Matthew the publican, and the parable of the Pharisee and the publican who went to the temple to pray, retold in the Castigos of 1293.^[8] From the late 14th century it was also used of Roman tax farmers, as in Fernández de Heredia.^[8] The Diccionario de Autoridades defined it as the farmer or collector of public dues among the Romans.^[11]

Because the Jews despised tax collectors, the word became an insult;^[12][10] Terreros noted that among the Jews it meant much the same as “public sinner”, and that it was used jokingly of people who collected taxes in his own day.^[12][10] Alemany in 1917 also recorded the plural for the revenues of the Roman republic and the name given to the Manichaeans in France and elsewhere.^[13] The DLE keeps only the Roman sense, a farmer of the public taxes and revenues and of the state mines.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – first record, in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar, of the apostle Matthew.^[8][9]
• a. 1260 – the Spanish New Testament of Escorial manuscript I-j-6 has the publicans who came to be baptised.^[8]
• 1293 – the Castigos retell the parable of the Pharisee and the publican.^[8]
• 1376–1396 – Fernández de Heredia uses it of a Roman tax farmer.^[8]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it.^[11]
• 1786–1793 – Terreros records the insulting sense “public sinner”.^[12]
• 1870 – first record from the Americas, in Buenos Aires.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Ancient Rome) A publican: a man who leased (arrendar) the collection of taxes or public revenues, or the working of the state mines: Mateo era publicano antes de seguir a Jesús.^[2][1][15]

Related words

• público
• publicar
• Latin pūblicānus
• English publican

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. publicano
3. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 670
4. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. público
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. publicanus
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. publicanus
7. ^ 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. 626
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. publicano
9. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. publicano
10. ^ a b c Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 1000
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 420
12. ^ 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, 237
13. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1386
14. ^ 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. publicano
15. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. publicano