replicación

Forms

replicación f (plural replicaciones)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin replicātiō (“a folding back; a plaintiff's reply”), formed from replicō (“to fold back; to reply”) with the suffix -tiō.^[2][3][1] Wiktionary notes that within Spanish it can also be analysed as replicar with -ción.^[1] In Roman law the Latin word was the plaintiff's answer to the defendant's plea, and Medieval Latin used it for a reply and for a repetition.^[3][4] Corominas notes that the noun réplica replaced it in the late 17th century.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is legal: in the mock trial of the wolf and the fox in Juan Ruiz's Libro de buen amor (1330–1343, in a copy of about 1415) the judge has seen esta respuesta e las replicaçiones que propusso el lobo “this answer and the replications the wolf put forward”.^[6] A letter of Peter IV of 1345 speaks of respuestas o replicaciones to articles of a marriage treaty.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In the late 14th century the word was used of any reply in speeches and debates, and in legal formulas beside exepçiones and defensiones.^[6] The chronicle of John II, quoted by Autoridades in 1737, uses it of a reply with an order, and the Academy already labelled it obsolete then.^[7] Later editions gave the obsolete senses “reply” and “repetition, reiteration”.^[8][9] Biology took the word up for the copying of DNA, which is now its main sense; in medicine and science it also names the repetition of an experiment.^[2][10][11]

Timeline

• 1330–1343 – the Libro de buen amor has replicaçiones in a legal sense.^[6]
• 1345 – a letter of Peter IV uses replicaciones for replies to treaty articles.^[6]
• 1387 – the Cortes of Briviesca use it for the plaintiff's reply in a lawsuit.^[6]
• 1737 – Autoridades marks it as obsolete.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (biology) The replication of DNA (ADN): the copying of the genetic material so that a full copy passes to the next generation.^[2][10][1]
2. (science) The repetition of an experiment under the same conditions to check its results.^[11]
3. (obsolete) The act of replying (replicar); a réplica.^[2][12]
4. (obsolete) repetition, reiteration.^[2][12]

Related words

• replicar
• réplica
• Latin replicatio

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. replicación
3. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. replicātiō
4. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. replicatio
5. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 580
6. ^ 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. replicación
7. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5
8. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1444
9. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. replicación
10. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. replicación
11. ^ a b Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. replicación
12. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. replicación