réplica

Forms

réplica f (plural réplicas)^[1]

Etymology

It is a deverbal noun from Spanish replicar.^[1][2] The verb is a learned word, from Latin replicō (“to fold back; to unroll, (law) to reply”), and the Latin verb is formed from re- and plicō (“to fold”).^[3][4][5][1] Corominas dates replicar to the early 17th century, but the CDH has it in the Vidal Mayor, a law book of about 1250.^[3][6] The same Latin verb gave, in a semi-learned form, replegar, a doublet of the learned verb.^[1]

Corominas dates the noun to the end of the 17th century, from Autoridades, and says that replicación was used before it; the BDELC dates it about 1570.^[3][4] The CDH has it a century earlier.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first CDH hit is the Crónica de Don Álvaro de Luna (c. 1453, in a 16th-century copy): the electors are to choose the archbishop sin más réplica, “without further objection”.^[7] The first without a later copy is Hernando de Talavera's Católica impugnación of 1487, where a chapter excluye y satisface a una réplica que podría hacer este malvado hereje, “rebuts and answers an objection that this wicked heretic might make”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In the 15th and 16th centuries the word meant a reply or objection, in chronicles, in the Celestina and in documents from the Americas, often in the phrase sin más réplica.^[7][8] The Academy's 1899 dictionary gives the action of replying and the words or argument used to reply.^[9] The modern dictionary adds an exact copy of something, the aftershock of an earthquake, and a pleading in a civil suit.^[10][11] Moliner defines the copy as one of a work of art made by the artist or a pupil.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1453 – the Crónica de Don Álvaro de Luna has sin más réplica (in a 16th-century copy).^[7]
• 1487 – Hernando de Talavera's Católica impugnación.^[7]
• c. 1499–1502 – the Celestina uses it for a reply prepared in advance.^[7]
• c. 1570 – the BDELC's first record.^[4]
• 1585 – the first record from the Americas, in Chile.^[8]
• late 17th century – the DCECH's first record, from Autoridades.^[3]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary defines it as the action of replying.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of replying (replicar).^[10]
2. A reply, retort or argument made in answer: Su réplica dejó callado al ministro.^[10][1]
3. An exact copy of something, a replica: En la plaza hay una réplica del barco de Colón.^[10][1][12]
4. An aftershock of an earthquake, usually weaker.^[10][1]
5. (law) The plaintiff's second written pleading, answering the defence and fixing the points in dispute.^[10]

Related words

• replicar
• replegar
• plegar
• Latin replicō

Usage notes

Derecho de réplica is the right of reply.^[10][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. réplica
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 580
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. plegar
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. replicar
7. ^ 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. réplica
8. ^ a b 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. réplica
9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 865
10. ^ a b c d e f g 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. réplica
11. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. réplica
12. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. réplica
13. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. réplica