rúbrica

Forms

rúbrica f (plural rúbricas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin rubrīca (“red ochre; a heading written in red”), a learned word.^[2][1][3] In Latin legal language it named collections of laws whose chapter titles were written in red, and then such a title itself.^[3][4] In Medieval Latin it meant a heading or title in general, and also a monastic rule.^[5] The same Latin word gave Portuguese rubrica, Italian rubrica and French rubrique; the French word was first rubriche, in the 13th century.^[4][6]

The Latin noun is the feminine of an adjective used as a noun, derived from ruber (“red”).^[2][4][7] De Vaan traces the adjective to Proto-Indo-European *h₁rudʰ-ró- (“red”), through Proto-Italic *ruþro-.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first Spanish records are in law books of the mid-13th century, where the word is the heading of a section: the Navarro-Aragonese Vidal Mayor (c. 1250) refers to what is said in the rúbrica titled De rerum contestatione.^[9][10] Alfonso X's Estoria de España (1270–1284) uses it for the title of a book by Plutarch: e la rubrica es tal “and the heading is as follows”.^[11][9] Corominas, who dates the word only from Palencia's dictionary of 1490 and the Celestina, found no earlier examples.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The sense “heading, title” of the medieval law books was the main one until the 15th century;^[13][14] Nebrija's Latin dictionary of 1492 gives Latin rubrica as red ochre, red clay and a title written in red.^[15] The flourish added to a signature is recorded in the Americas from 1546, when a document from Puebla is “signed with my name and rrública”, and in Chile in 1570.^[16]

The Academy's dictionaries of the 19th century list the red mark, the flourish of a signature, the titles of the law books printed in red letters and the rules of the Church's ceremonies, together with rúbrica fabril, the red ochre carpenters use to mark wood.^[13][14] Today the signature flourish is the first sense, the red mark is obsolete, and the word also means a heading;^[1] Wiktionary adds the English sense of a marking guide in education.^[2][17][1]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – Vidal Mayor uses rúbrica for the heading of a section of a law code.^[9][10]
• c. 1250–1260 – the Fuero Juzgo heads its laws Rúbrica.^[9]
• 1270–1284 – Alfonso X's Estoria de España uses it for the title of a book.^[11]
• 1490 – Alfonso de Palencia's dictionary has it, apparently already as a Castilian word;^[13] Corominas's first record.^[12]
• 1492 – Nebrija's Latin dictionary gives the Latin word as red ochre and a title written in red.^[15]
• 1546 – the first record of the signature flourish, from Puebla, in the dissimilated form rrública.^[16]
• 1605 – the Quijote uses the word.^[12]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades is the first to write it with the accent.^[12]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary lists the red mark, the signature flourish, law headings, liturgical rules and rúbrica fabril.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A flourish or set of strokes, always made the same way, that a person adds after the name in a signature (firma) and that sometimes replaces it: Puso su rúbrica al pie del contrato.^[2][17][1]
2. A heading or title; a section of a text.^[2][17][1]
3. (religion) In liturgical books, each of the rules that explain how the ceremonies and rites of the Catholic Church are to be performed.^[2][17]
4. (religion) The whole body of these rules.^[2]
5. (education) A rubric, a guide for marking work.^[1]
6. (obsolete) A red mark.^[2]

Word family

• rubricar

Related words

• rubí
• rubor
• rubio
• rubro
• Latin ruber
• French rubrique

Usage notes

Rúbrica fabril is the red ochre carpenters use to mark the lines to be sawn.^[2] The dissimilated form rública is found in Colombia, Cuba and Chile.^[12][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. rúbrica
3. ^ a b Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. rúbrica
4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 2962
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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 Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. rúbrica
10. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. rúbrica
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. rúbrica
12. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 80
13. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 773
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 691
15. ^ 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, p. s.v. rúbrica
16. ^ 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. rúbrica
17. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. rúbrica