reciente

Forms

reciente m or f (masculine and feminine plural recientes)^[1] Old Spanish wrote reziente, with the voiced sibilant that ⟨z⟩ spelled, and Nebrija still has that spelling.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin recēns (“new, fresh, recent”).^[2][4][5][1] The old voiced /dz/ of Old Spanish reziente shows that it is an inherited or at least semi-popular word;^[2][1] Corominas notes that the Latin adjective survives in that way only in Portuguese recente, Old French, Romanian rece and perhaps Italian recente.^[2][1]

Before a participle the adjective was reduced to recién, already in Berceo, because adjective and participle were pronounced as one group; the stressed /e/ still became the diphthong /je/.^[2][4] The Latin construction with the participle meaning “born” is already found in Plautus.^[2]

De Vaan explains the Latin adjective as probably a compound of re- (“again, back”) and a stem meaning “young, first”, from Proto-Indo-European *ken-t- (“young, new”), which also gave Ancient Greek καινός (kainós, “new”).^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record in the CDH is in the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250), which fines a butcher who sells stinking or old meat por reziente “as fresh”.^[7] Corominas's first record is Berceo, who uses it both in the Latin sense “new” (otros cantos rezientes “other new songs”) and in the Castilian sense “fresh”, of snow: más blancas que las nieves recientes “whiter than fresh snow”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

“Fresh, just made” has been the usual sense at every period: Alfonso X speaks of fresh lime, and Nebrija gives Latin musteus “new, fresh” as its equivalent.^[8][2] Covarrubias in 1611 explained it as what is fresh and soft, like new bread, and defined recental as a tender lamb.^[9] The Diccionario de Autoridades and the Academy's dictionaries of the 19th century kept the definition “new, fresh or just made”.^[10][11] The sense “that happened a short time ago” is the first of the modern dictionaries.^[5][12]

In the Río de la Plata and Chile recién is used with finite verbs (recién llegó “he has just arrived”) and comes to mean “not until”, a use Corominas does not derive from the sporadic Late Latin examples.^[2]

Timeline

• 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes has reziente of meat.^[7]
• c. 1230 – Berceo's Vida de San Millán speaks of nieves rezientes.^[2][7]
• 1270–1284 – Alfonso X's Estoria de España uses it of fresh lime.^[8]
• 1571 – first record from the Americas, nuevas rezientes “recent news”, in Mexico City.^[13]
• 1611 – Covarrubias compares fresh bread.^[9]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology and the Andalusian noun “yeast”.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. new, fresh or just made: Compramos pan reciente en la tahona.^[5][12]
2. recent: that happened a short time ago.^[5][12][1]

Word family

• recentar
• recental
• recién
• recientemente

Related words

• Latin recens
• Portuguese recente

Usage notes

Before a participle or adjective the shortened form recién is used: recién nacido, recién pintado.^[2][4] In Andalusia reciente is also a masculine noun meaning “yeast, leaven”;^[5][2] Corominas compares Catalan rent.^[5][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 821
3. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. reciente
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. reciente
5. ^ a b c d e f 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. reciente
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. reciente
8. ^ 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. reciente
9. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1249
10. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 516
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 735
12. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. reciente
13. ^ 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. reciente
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 905