refrigeración

Forms

refrigeración f (plural refrigeraciones)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin refrigeratio (“cooling”), a learned word.^[2][1] The Latin noun is formed on refrīgerō (“to cool”), from re- and frīgus (“cold”).^[3][4] Corominas lists it, undated, among the learned words of the family of frío, after refrigerar.^[5][6]

The same Latin word is Portuguese refrigeração, Catalan refrigeració, French réfrigération and Italian refrigerazione.^[7][8][1]

The Latin word for “cold” goes back to Proto-Italic *srīgos and Proto-Indo-European *sriHǵ-o/es- (“frost, bitter cold”), the source also of Greek ῥῖγος (rhîgos).^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first hit is in Francisco de Osuna's Segunda parte del Abecedario espiritual of 1530, of a cooling of all carnal ardour.^[10] In the 16th century physicians and moralists used it of the cooling of the heart by the air of the lungs.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Until the 18th century the word mostly belonged to the old physiology, in which breathing cooled the heart, as in Herrera (1580) and Feijoo (1733).^[10] The Academy gave it as the action of refrigerating, with an old sense “absolute lack of heat”.^[11][12] With mechanical cooling in the 20th century it came to name the cooling of food and rooms and the equipment that does it: refrigeración eléctrica for food in Mexico in 1935, a cinema with refrigeración in Cuba in 1966.^[13][2] The DLE also keeps the sense of a light meal, the same as refrigerio.^[2][14]

Timeline

• 1530 – first record, in Osuna's Abecedario espiritual.^[10]
• 1580 – Herrera uses it of the cooling of the heart by breathing.^[10]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology, from Latin refrigeratio.^[11]
• 1935 – Mexico: refrigeración eléctrica para los alimentos.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act and effect of refrigerating (refrigerar); refrigeration, cooling.^[2][1]
2. A system or device used to cool a room or other thing: El coche tiene un fallo en la refrigeración.^[2][14]
3. A light meal; refrigerio.^[2][14]
4. (obsolete) Lack of heat.^[2]

Related words

• refrigerar
• refrigerio
• frío
• Latin refrigeratio

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. refrigeración
3. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. refrīgerātiō
4. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 599
5. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 959
6. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. frío
7. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. refrigeração
8. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. refrigeració
9. ^ 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. frīgus
10. ^ 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. refrigeración
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 854
12. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1432
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. refrigeración
14. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. refrigeración