ración

Forms

ración f (plural raciones)^[1] Old Spanish wrote raçion, rraçión or racion, and in Latinising spellings ration.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ratio (“calculation, account”), the learned doublet of razón, which is the popular outcome of the same Latin word.^[3][4][1] From “account, reckoning” the learned form passed to “share, portion”.^[4][5] The REW also derives the Spanish, French and Portuguese words for a share from the Latin form.^[6]

The Latin noun is formed from reor (“to think, reckon”), whose original sense was “to count”; de Vaan traces it to Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₁- and compares Gothic 𐍂𐌰𐌸𐌾𐍉 (raþjo, “number, account”).^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy) already has the sense “share”: the Cid's men are to go in peace e non ayan ý ración “and have no part in it”.^[9][3] The Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250) has a chapter on las raçiones dela senna, the shares due to the banner.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Juan Ruiz, in the 14th century, still used the word in the etymological sense “account”.^[3] Alfonso X's prose has the food sense, racion de pan “a ration of bread”.^[10] Nebrija (c. 1495) recorded the palace allowance and the ration of begged bread.^[3][11] Autoridades defined three senses: the portion of food for one meal, the daily allowance of servants, often paid in money, and a prebend in a cathedral or collegiate church, below a canonry.^[12] The Academy's 1884 edition added the portion of a dish served for a set price in inns and eating-houses, the sense of the raciones of today's bars.^[13][5] The derivative racionero, the holder of such a prebend, is recorded from 1257.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses ración for “share”.^[9][3]
• 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita speaks of raçiones of the banner.^[9]
• 1254 – Alfonso X's Judizios de las estrellas has racion de pan.^[10]
• 1257 – first record of racionero.^[4]
• 14th century – Juan Ruiz uses it for “account”.^[3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija records racion de palacio and racion de pan mendigado.^[3]
• 1531 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico City.^[14]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades defines the meal portion, the servants' allowance and the prebend.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy adds the portion sold in eating-houses.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A ration or portion of food given to a person or animal: Cada perro recibe su ración por la mañana.^[5][1]
2. The amount of something the population may buy in times of scarcity (escasez).^[5]
3. The daily allowance, in kind or money, given to each soldier or sailor for food.^[5]
4. A serving, usually small, of a dish in a bar or restaurant.^[5][15]
5. (ecclesiastical) A prebend (prebenda) in a cathedral or collegiate church, paid from the chapter's revenue.^[5]
6. A liquid measure, a copa.^[5]
7. (colloquial) An amount of something one gets: Todos tuvieron su ración de críticas.^[5]

Word family

• racionar
• racionero
• racionamiento

Related words

• racional
• razón
• Latin ratio

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. ración
3. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 802
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. razón
5. ^ 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. ración
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7086
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. ratiō
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. ración
10. ^ 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. ración
11. ^ 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. ración
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 893
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. ración
15. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ración