reflexivo

Forms

reflexivo (feminine reflexiva, masculine plural reflexivos, feminine plural reflexivas)^[1]

Etymology

The DLE derives it from Latin reflexus (“bent back”), the past participle of reflectō (“to bend back”), with the suffix -ivo;^[2][3] Autoridades gave a Latin reflexivus as its model.^[2][3] Corominas lists it among the late learned words of the family of flexible, with reflejo, reflexión (1708) and reflexionar, and dates it about 1700.^[4][5] The Latin verb is re- with flectō (“to bend”), which de Vaan reconstructs as Proto-Italic *flek-t-; its further origin is uncertain.^[6][1]

The same formation is Catalan reflexiu, French réflexif and Italian riflessivo.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Boyd-Bowman's Léxico hispanoamericano has the word in a text from Mexico City of 1571, which speaks of pronombres reflexivos o recíprocos.^[8] This grammatical use is more than a century earlier than Corominas's first record, of about 1700.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades in 1737 defined the word as “that which reflects” and equated verbo reflexivo with the reciprocal verb.^[3] The sense “thoughtful, considered” was added by Terreros and by the Academy in 1817.^[9][10] Corominas dates the figurative sense of reflexión from Autoridades.^[4] In the Americas it described prudent governors in Havana in 1761.^[8] The modern dictionaries keep the optical sense, the sense of a person who thinks before acting, and the grammatical senses of pronouns, verbs and clauses whose object is the subject itself.^[2][11]

Timeline

• 1571 – pronombres reflexivos o recíprocos in a text from Mexico City.^[8]
• c. 1700 – Corominas's first record.^[4][5]
• 1737 – Autoridades defines it as “that which reflects” and records verbo reflexivo.^[3]
• 1761 – Havana: gobernadores prudentes y reflexivos.^[8]
• 1817 – the Academy adds the sense “one who reflects”.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That reflects light, sound or heat: una lámina reflexiva.^[2][11]
2. Used to speaking and acting with reflexión; thoughtful: Es una muchacha muy reflexiva.^[2][11]
3. (grammar) Of a personal pronoun: reflexive, having another argument of the same predicate as its antecedent, as se in Ana se peina; also as a noun.^[2][1]
4. (grammar) Of a clause or phrase: containing a reflexive pronoun; of a verb, in verbo reflexivo.^[2][11]

Related words

• reflexión
• reflejo
• reflexionar
• flexible
• Latin reflectō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. reflexivo
3. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 536
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 916
5. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. flexible
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. flectō
7. ^ Barcia, Roque (1880–1883), Primer diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Tipográfico de Álvarez Hermanos, p. 634
8. ^ a b c d 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. reflexivo
9. ^ 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. 3, 316
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 740
11. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. reflexivo