reposo

Forms

reposo m (plural reposos)^[1]

Etymology

It is a deverbal noun from Spanish reposar (“to rest”).^[2][3][4][5] Corominas treats both words in the article on posar, and notes that the verb is common to all the Romance languages of the West.^[6][7]

The verb continues Late Latin repausō (“to halt awhile, rest”), formed from re- (“again, back”) and pausō (“to cease, halt”).^[1][8][9] The noun repausātiō already occurs in Caesarius of Arles, who died in 543.^[6] That verb was formed from Latin pausa (“pause, halt”), which was taken from Greek, from Ancient Greek παύω (paúō, “to stop, make to rest”) or a derivative of it.^[6][7] Wiktionary names the derivative, παῦσις (paûsis, “a stopping, pause”).^[1]

The corresponding nouns are Italian riposo, Occitan repaus and French repos.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first hit is in the Fuero Juzgo (c. 1250–1260): & auerá reposo & folgancia por siempre “and he will have rest and ease for ever”.^[11] The DEMel records the spelling rreposo, and its earliest reference is to the Calila e Dimna (1251).^[12] Corominas's short dictionary dates the noun only to 1438 and the verb to around 1440.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Old Spanish already used the word for rest from toil and for peace: Fernández de Heredia writes that Rome, after the First Punic War, folgo en reposo vn anyo “rested in peace for a year”.^[11] Nebrija rendered it with Latin quies, requies and otium.^[13] Covarrubias derived it from Latin reponendo, “because cares and duties are laid aside for that time”, an etymology of his own.^[14] The Autoridades defined it as rest, quiet, a break from work or fatigue, and also as calm of mind or body.^[15] Terreros added that it was also used for sleep.^[16] The phrase estar de reposo, “to be settled somewhere”, was already marked obsolete by the Academy in 1843.^[17]

Since 1899 the Academy has defined it as the action and effect of resting.^[18][19] Physics uses it for a body's immobility with respect to a frame of reference,^[19][3] and medicine for rest prescribed as treatment, as in reposo absoluto “complete bed rest”.^[20][21][3]

Timeline

• c. 1250–1260 – the Fuero Juzgo promises reposo & folgancia.^[11]
• 1438 – the date of the noun in Corominas's short dictionary.^[7]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin quies, requies, otium.^[13][5]
• 1518 – first record in the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[22]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as rest and quiet.^[14]
• 1843 – the Academy marks estar de reposo as obsolete.^[17]
• 1899 – the Academy defines it as the action and effect of reposar.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. rest: the action and effect of resting: Después de la caminata nos tomamos una hora de reposo.^[19][20][1]
2. Stillness, calm: the state of someone or something that is inactive or at peace.^[20][23]
3. (medicine) Rest prescribed as treatment, lying down all day or for some hours; also the immobilisation of an injured limb.^[20][3]
4. (physics) The immobility of a body with respect to a frame of reference.^[19][3]

Related words

• reposar
• posar
• pausa
• Late Latin repausō
• French repos

Usage notes

Common phrases include reposo absoluto “complete bed rest” and hacer reposo “to follow a rest cure”.^[20]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 923
3. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. reposo
4. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b 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. reposo
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 617
7. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. posar
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. repausō
9. ^ 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. reposar
10. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 655
11. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE
12. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. reposo
13. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 408
14. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1259
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 583
16. ^ 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, 348
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 630
18. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 865
19. ^ a b c d 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. reposo
20. ^ a b c d e Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. reposo
21. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. reposo
22. ^ 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. reposo
23. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. reposo