radial

Forms

radial m or f (masculine and feminine plural radiales)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish radio (“radius, spoke; ray”) + -al.^[1][2][3] Corominas lists the adjective among the learned words of the family of rayo, which continues Latin radius (“rod, spoke, ray”); the noun radio is its learned doublet.^[4][5] The adjective is recorded in surgical translations of 1481 and 1498, before the noun itself, which Corominas first finds in the early 18th century.^[6][4]

The Latin word has no clear etymology: De Vaan rejects a link with rādīx (“root”), and Wiktionary calls it of uncertain origin.^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest records are surgical: the Spanish Cirugía mayor of Lanfranc, in a manuscript of 1481, and Guy de Chauliac's Cirugía printed in 1498, which tells the surgeon to open an abscess with the cauterio radial.^[6][8] In 16th-century poetry it means “radiant”, as in luzero radial (1549).^[8]

Semantic evolution

Terreros (1788) gave radial only as a synonym of radiante.^[9] In the 19th century it became a term of geometry and anatomy: Gaspar y Roig records it for muscles running from the ulna to the radius, and the Academy's 1884 edition defines it as relating to the radius in geometry and anatomy.^[10][11] The CDH has the radial artery in an anatomy of 1870–1901 and a prison of radial plan in 1877.^[8] The DLE has since added the radial tyre and, as a feminine noun, the angle grinder.^[12]

In much of Latin America radial also means “relating to radio broadcasting”, from 1927 in Buenos Aires.^[13][14][15]

Timeline

• 1481 – the Spanish Cirugía mayor of Lanfranc.^[6]
• 1498 – cauterio radial in the printed Cirugía of Guy de Chauliac.^[8][6]
• 1549 – luzero radial, “radiant morning star”, in a religious songbook.^[8]
• 1788 – Terreros gives it as a synonym of radiante.^[9]
• 1884 – the Academy enters it as a term of geometry and anatomy.^[11]
• 1927 – first record of the broadcasting sense, in Buenos Aires.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Arranged like the radii of a circle, or starting from a centre: una planta radial.^[12][16]
2. (physics) Of a direction: following the line of sight.^[12]
3. (geometry) Relating to a radius.^[12][1]
4. (anatomy) Relating to the radius, the bone of the forearm.^[16][17]
5. (mechanics) Of a tyre: having steel or other strong cords running across the tread.^[12]
6. (Latin America) Relating to radio broadcasting; radiofónico.^{[12][14][15][1]}

Noun

1. (feminine) An angle grinder, a machine with a fast-spinning abrasive disc for cutting hard materials.^[12][1]
2. (feminine, anatomy) The radial artery;^[17] (masculine) the radial nerve.^[17]
3. (masculine, geometry) radian.^[1]

Word family

• braquiorradial
• radialmente

Related words

• rayo
• radiante
• radiar
• Latin radius

Usage notes

The DLE lists the broadcasting sense under a separate headword, radial², derived from radio in the sense of radio broadcasting, and marks it as used in the Americas.^[12][18] DAMER records it in most countries from Honduras to Uruguay.^[14]

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
3. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. radial
4. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 799
5. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. rayo
6. ^ a b c d Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org
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. ^ 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, p. s.v. radial
9. ^ a b Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 4, 288
10. ^ Gaspar y Roig (eds.) (1853–1855), Biblioteca ilustrada de Gaspar y Roig: Diccionario enciclopédico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Imprenta y Librería de Gaspar y Roig, p. 1, 690
11. ^ 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. 894
12. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. radial
13. ^ 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. radial
14. ^ 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. radial
15. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. radial
16. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. radial
17. ^ a b c Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. radial
18. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. radial