reacción

Forms

reacción f (plural reacciones)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin reāctiō, a term of scholastic philosophy, which Gómez de Silva calls modern Latin.^[1][2][3] The Academy in 1899 and García de Diego analyse it instead as from Spanish re- + acción.^[4][5] Corominas lists it among the learned words of the family of the Latin verb for “to do”, and dates it from Autoridades, where it is a philosophical term.^[3] The chemists of France borrowed réaction from the Latin of the schools in 1616.^[6]

The Medieval Latin noun is formed from reagō with -tiō.^[1] The DHLF describes that verb as Late Latin of the 4th century, “to drive back again”, common in a figurative use in the medieval schools, and formed from re- and agō (“to do, to drive”).^[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first reliable record in the corpus is of 1636, in Cosme Gómez de Tejada's León prodigioso, in the language of the philosophy of qualities: a body dies vencidas unas calidades de otras, mediante la continuación y reacción “some qualities overcome by others, through continuance and reaction”.^[7] In 1640 Álvaro Alonso Barba's Arte de los metales uses it for the action of quicksilver on silver and other metals.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades in 1737 has it only as a philosophical term: the action by which the thing acted on resists the agent and acts upon it in turn.^[8] In 1899 the Academy gives the general sense “an action that resists or opposes another”, a figurative sense of efforts set off against a plan by the very force used to carry it out, the force of mechanics, and in medicine the stage of heat and fast pulse that follows the cold stage in some illnesses.^[4] The derived adjective reaccionario entered the Academy's dictionary in 1884, and the verb reaccionar in 1899 or 1914.^[3]

Today the word also names a person's response to a stimulus, opposition to innovation in politics and those who hold it, the side effect of a medicine, and a chemical process.^[9][10]

Timeline

• 1636 – Cosme Gómez de Tejada uses reacción of the action of qualities on one another.^[7]
• 1640 – Álvaro Alonso Barba uses it of quicksilver and metals.^[7]
• 1737 – Autoridades records it as a philosophical term.^[8][3]
• 1884 – reaccionario first appears in the Academy's dictionary.^[3]
• 1899 – the Academy adds the senses of mechanics and medicine, and derives the word from re- and acción.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. An action that opposes or resists another.^[9][1]
2. The way someone or something behaves in response to a stimulus: Su primera reacción fue reírse.^[9][10]
3. (politics) Opposition to innovation; the reactionaries as a group.^[9][1]
4. (medicine) An immediate, visible side effect of a medicine or a treatment.^[9][10]
5. (biology) In some illnesses, the stage of heat and fast pulse that follows the cold stage.^[9][4]
6. (biology) The action of the body against a pathogen.^[9]
7. (mechanics) The equal and opposite force with which a body answers the action of another upon it.^[9][4]
8. (chemistry) A process in which compounds are turned into others, releasing or using up energy.^[9]

Word family

• reaccionar
• reaccionario

Related words

• reactivo
• reactor
• acción
• Latin reāctiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. reacción
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 43
4. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 845
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. reacción
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. réagir
7. ^ 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. reacción
8. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5
9. ^ 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. reacción
10. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. reacción