relajación

Forms

relajación f (plural relajaciones)^[1] Older texts spell it relaxacion, relaxaçión and rrelaxaçion.^[2] The spelling rrelajaçión appears in Puebla in 1555, beside rrelaxación in Guatemala in 1586.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin relaxātiō (“a loosening; easing, remission”).^[4][1][5] DICCA-XV treats it instead as a derivative of the verb, Old Spanish relaxar (now relajar), and Corominas lists it among the derivatives of that verb.^[6][7] The Latin noun is formed from relaxō (“to loosen, relax”), which is built on laxus (“loose, slack”).^[5][6]

The inherited outcome of the simple verb laxō (“to widen, loosen”) is dejar, earlier lexar, while laxo is the learned form of the adjective.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first hit in the CDH is Juan Fernández de Heredia's translation of Eutropius (1377–1399), where it means release from captivity: por relaxacion de Cirus, rey de los persanos, XLII mil et CCCC s'ende tornaron en Iherusalem “by the release granted by Cyrus, king of the Persians, 42,400 returned to Jerusalem”.^[2] Medieval Latin had this sense, with remission and pardon.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In the 15th century it was a legal word: an ordinance of Zaragoza of 1414 forbids any remission of a penalty, and the Castilian Cortes of 1438 and 1445 forbid dispensation from a law or release from an oath.^[2] Oaths renounced rrelajaçión in the Americas too, in Puebla in 1555 and Guatemala in 1586.^[3] Nebrija's Latin dictionary of 1492 rendered Latin relaxatio as a loosening.^[6]

Echegaray lists the loosening of a body's natural tension, hernia, the decline of discipline and good conduct, release from a vow or oath, rest from work, and the handing over of an accused person by a church judge to a secular one for punishment.^[9] The Academy's dictionary of 1899 kept the general sense and hernia.^[10] Today the DLE adds immorality and senses in physics and engineering, and Moliner a therapy of muscular or breathing exercises that lowers physical and mental tension.^[4][11]

Timeline

• 1377–1399 – Juan Fernández de Heredia's Eutropius uses relaxacion for a release from captivity.^[2]
• 1414 – an ordinance of Zaragoza, of the remission of a penalty.^[2]
• 1438 – the Cortes of Madrigal, of dispensation from a law.^[2]
• 1457 – the first record in DICCA-XV.^[6]
• 1492 – Nebrija glosses Latin relaxatio as a loosening.^[6]
• 1555 – the first record from the Americas, in Puebla, of an oath.^[3]
• 1899 – the Academy defines the action and effect of relajar and hernia.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The action and effect of relajar, to relax: relaxation, a loosening or lessening of tension, rigour or strictness: Hubo una relajación de los controles en la frontera.^[4][11][1]
2. A state of physical and mental rest, and a technique of exercises to reach it: Dedica diez minutos a la relajación cada noche.^[12][11]
3. Laxity or immorality in conduct.^[4][1]
4. hernia.^[4][1]
5. (physics) The phenomenon by which a system needs a perceptible time to react to sudden changes in its physical conditions.^[4]
6. (engineering) The loss of stress in a material held under constant deformation.^[4]
7. (historical) Release from a vow or oath; the handing over of an accused person by a church court to a secular one.^[9][3]

Related words

• relajar
• dejar
• laxo
• relajamiento
• relajo
• Latin relaxātiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. relajación
3. ^ 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. relajación
4. ^ 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. relajación
5. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. relaxātiō
6. ^ a b c d e 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. relajación
7. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 435
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. relaxatio
9. ^ a b Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 120
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 859
11. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. relajación
12. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. relajación