registro

Forms

registro m (plural registros)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin registrum, regestum, from Late Latin regesta (“lists, records”).^[2][1][3] Corominas and the BDELC take it straight from the Late Latin plural.^[4][5] The Late Latin word is the neuter plural of the past participle of Latin regerō (“to carry back; to record, transcribe”), from re- and gerō (“to carry”).^[4][3][6]

The learned form is common to the western Romance languages, Catalan registre (Old Catalan also legistre), French registre, Italian registro and Portuguese registo.^[4][7] Corominas thinks the form may go back to Carolingian Latin and owe something to the frequent learned suffix -ista; its second ⟨r⟩ arose by repetition of the first, and it is still missing in Asturian rexistar and partly in Portuguese.^[4] The French dictionary DHLF explains the ⟨r⟩ of the French word from the influence of epistre (“epistle”).^[8] Wiktionary adds that some senses were influenced by the unrelated Latin regō (“to rule”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DEMel's earliest primary record is the plural registros in the Fuero de Soria (before 1252–54), and the word is in Alfonso X's Partidas (1256–65).^[9] The CDH also has it in Herman the German's translation of the Psalms (c. 1240–72): en Tu registro “in your record”.^[10] In the General Estoria (1280) a king orders a search of los libros & los registros of his ancestors.^[11] The DCECH's and the BDELC's first record is later, in Juan Ruiz (1330–43; 1335 in the BDELC).^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

From the book of records the word spread to the act of recording and inspecting: Autoridades (1737) has the act of registering, a place from which something can be watched, the declaration of goods and merchandise, and the notary's protocol.^[12] The verb registrar, of the mid-15th century, gave the sense “search, inspection” (un registro policial).^[5][4][13] The 1884 Academy dictionary already lists the regulating piece of a clock and the inspection opening of a drain.^[14]

Moliner records the further technical senses: in music, a part of the scale or the range of a voice or instrument, and the stops of an organ; in printing, the correspondence of the two sides of a sheet; in computing, a record of a database; and in linguistics, a level of language (registro coloquial).^[13] In colonial trade a registro was a ship sailing to the Americas with registered goods.^[13] In Paraguay and Argentina it means a driving licence.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 1240–72 – Herman the German's Psalter has en Tu registro.^[10]
• before 1252–54 – registros in the Fuero de Soria.^[9]
• 1256–65 – Alfonso X's Partidas.^[9]
• 1330–43 – Juan Ruiz, the first record in the DCECH.^[4][16]
• mid-15th century – the verb registrar.^[5]
• 1490 – Alfonso de Palencia describes it as a memorial of past events.^[4]
• 1539 – first record from the Americas in Boyd-Bowman's corpus, from Honduras.^[17]
• 1737 – Autoridades defines the act of registering and the declaration of goods.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of registering or recording; a search or inspection: La policía hizo un registro del piso.^[2][1][13]
2. A place from which something can be watched.^[2][12]
3. A piece in a clock or other machine that regulates its movement.^[2]
4. An inspection opening with a cover, giving access to buried or built-in pipes or cables.^[2]
5. A register, roll or official list of people or things; an entry in it.^[2][1]
6. An office where records are kept, as the registro civil.^[2][13]
7. A ribbon or marker placed between the pages of a book.^[2][13]
8. (music) A part of the musical scale, or the range of a voice or instrument; a stop of an organ.^[13][1]
9. (linguistics) A register, a level of language: registro coloquial.^[13][1]
10. (computing) A record in a database.^[13]
11. (Paraguay, Argentina) A driving licence.^[15]

Word family

• registrar
• registrador

Related words

• gesto
• gerente
• Latin regerō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. registro
3. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 600
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 146
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. registro
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. regerō
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7169
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. registre
9. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. registro
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. registro
11. ^ 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. registro
12. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 547
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. registro
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. 913
15. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. registro
16. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. registro
17. ^ 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. registro