puntuación

Forms

puntuación f (plural puntuaciones)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish puntuar + -ción.^[1][2][3] Corominas lists the verb and this noun among the learned derivatives of punto.^[4][5] The verb is taken from Medieval Latin pūnctuō (“to mark with a point”),^[1] and the DLE derives it from Latin punctum (“point”).^[6] The noun, however, is recorded three centuries before the verb, which is first found in 1737.^[7][5]

The same word is Catalan puntuació,^[8] Portuguese pontuação, recorded from 1679,^[9] and French ponctuation.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Enrique de Villena's translation and glosses of the Aeneid (1427–1428, in a copy of 1442), with the Latinising spelling punctuaçión: los romançistas leedores que de punctuaçión e pausas non son informados “readers of the vernacular who are not taught punctuation and pauses”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The word was at home in the books on spelling of the early 17th century: Jiménez Patón's Epítome de la ortografía (c. 1604–1614) holds good spelling and punctuation necessary for reading well, and Mateo Alemán's Ortografía castellana (1609) uses it too.^[7] The Diccionario de Autoridades defined it as the placing of the marks of spelling in writing to separate sentences and their parts, with Latin interpunctio.^[11] The Academy's 1899 edition gave the two senses still current, the act of punctuating and the set of signs used for it.^[12][13]

With the verb's sense “to score”, the noun also came to mean a score in points, as in a Costa Rican text of 1986 on a dice game;^[14] Moliner gives this sense first.^[14][15][1]

Timeline

• 1427–1428 – Enrique de Villena writes punctuaçión in his glosses on the Aeneid.^[7]
• c. 1604–1614 – Jiménez Patón uses it in his Epítome de la ortografía.^[7]
• 1609 – Mateo Alemán's Ortografía castellana.^[7]
• 1737 – the verb puntuar is first recorded.^[5]
• 1816 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico.^[14]
• 1899 – the Academy defines it as the action and effect of punctuating and the set of signs.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. punctuation: the act of punctuating a text: Revisa la puntuación antes de entregar el trabajo.^[13][15][1]
2. The set of signs used to punctuate a text, and the rules for them.^[13][15]
3. A score, the number of points obtained in a test, exam or competition.^[15][16][1]

Related words

• punto
• puntual
• Medieval Latin punctuatio

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
3. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
4. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 693
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. punto
6. ^ 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. puntuar
7. ^ 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. puntuación
8. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. puntuació
9. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. pontuação
10. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 1016
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 827
13. ^ 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. puntuación
14. ^ a b c 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. puntuación
15. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. puntuación
16. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. puntuación