punta

Forms

punta f (plural puntas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish punta, inherited from Late Latin puncta (“a thrust, stab”).^[2][3][1] The Late Latin noun is the feminine of Latin pūnctus (“pricked”), the past participle of pungō (“to prick, pierce”).^[4][3][1] In Old Spanish the word first meant “a stab of pain”, and the sense “end of a thing, especially a sharp one” is recorded from about 1400.^[4][2]

The same Late Latin word is Portuguese ponta, Catalan punta and French pointe.^[5][6][7] Its masculine counterpart, the neuter pūnctum (“a prick, a tiny mark”), gave punto.^[4]

The verb goes back to Proto-Italic *pungō and Proto-Indo-European *pewǵ- (“to prick, punch”).^[1] De Vaan explains it as a nasal present of a root *pug- or *puk-, and Wiktionary notes that the participle took its nasal from the present stem.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest hit in the CDH is the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy), where a grieving man sets the hilt of his sword on the ground and its point to his heart: priso el espada e metiol a tierra e la punta al coraçon “he took the sword and set it to the ground and the point to his heart”.^[9][10] The Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250) orders that the points of the champions' lances be blunted: las puntas delas lanças delos lidiadores sean enbotadas.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Corominas dates the sense “stab of pain” to a Mozarabic glossary of about 1100, and Berceo uses puntas for the pangs of death and of childbirth.^[4][9] Alfonso X's Lapidario has both the point of a weapon (the star at the point of Sagittarius's arrow) and a pricking sensation in the flesh.^[11]

By 1611 Covarrubias recorded a cluster of phrases: herir de punta “to strike with the point”, tener punta el vino “of wine, to turn to vinegar”, armado de punta en blanco “armed from head to foot” and andar en puntas “to be at odds”.^[12] The Diccionario de Autoridades added the headland that juts into the sea, quoting José de Acosta, and puntas for a kind of lace with pointed edges.^[13] From hacer punta, said of cattle that try to break away from the herd, came punta “a small group of livestock”.^[4]

In Spanish America punta came to mean a large number of people or things, and a punta de “by dint of”;^[4][14] Corominas cites both from Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Central America and Mexico.^[4][14] In Cuba it names a small leaf of top-quality tobacco.^[15] In several countries from Mexico to Chile it is slang for a knife, and in Mexico, Peru, Chile and Argentina it also means the top place in a ranking.^[16]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – a Mozarabic glossary records the word in the sense “stab of pain”.^[4][2]
• c. 1200 – the Fazienda de Ultra Mar speaks of the point of a sword.^[9]
• c. 1236 – Berceo's Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos has puntas mortales “pangs of death”.^[9]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for the point of an arrow.^[11]
• c. 1400 – the glossaries of Toledo and El Escorial give the sense “end of a thing, especially a sharp one”.^[4]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija renders it with Latin mucro.^[17]
• 1521 – the first record from the Americas, a letter from Cuba with de punta en blanco.^[18]
• 1611 – Covarrubias lists herir de punta, tener punta el vino and armado de punta en blanco.^[12]
• 1626 – the compound puntapié “kick” is first recorded.^[2][4]
• 1737 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines the headland and the lace senses.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology for the first time, from Latin puncta.^[19]

Meanings

Noun

1. The end or tip of something: Se tocó la nariz con la punta del dedo.^[3][1]
2. The sharp end of something, a point: la punta de la navaja.^[3][20]
3. The butt of a cigar or cigarette.^[3][20]
4. A small group of livestock separated from the herd.^[3]
5. A large number of people, animals or things.^[3][14]
6. A small amount or touch of something: Échale una punta de pimienta.^[3][1]
7. Each of the tines of a deer's antler.^[3]
8. A bull's horn.^[3][20]
9. A small nail, usually without a head.^[3][21]
10. A low, narrow headland that runs out into the sea.^[3][13]
11. The thinner end of a piece of timber, opposite the end nearest the root.^[3]
12. A sourish taste, as of wine beginning to turn to vinegar.^[3][12]
13. (hunting) The halt a gun dog makes each time it points.^[3]
14. (Latin America, slang) A knife.^[16]
15. (Mexico, Peru, Chile, Argentina) The first place in a ranking or competition.^[16]

Word family

• puntal
• puntilla
• apuntar
• despuntar
• puntazo
• sacapuntas
• puntapié
• puntiagudo

Related words

• punto
• Latin pungō
• Portuguese ponta
• French pointe

Usage notes

Common set phrases include de punta en blanco “dressed in one's best”, la punta del iceberg “the tip of the iceberg”, sacar punta “to sharpen” and tener algo en la punta de la lengua “to have something on the tip of one's tongue”.^[1][22]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. punta
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. punta
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 693
5. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 2653
6. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. punta
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. pointe
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE
10. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock
11. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. punta
12. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1237
13. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 432
14. ^ a b c Santamaría, Francisco J. (1959), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Porrúa, p. 895
15. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1391
16. ^ a b c Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. punta
17. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 402
18. ^ 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. punta
19. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 880
20. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
21. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial
22. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. punta