reprimenda

Forms

reprimenda f (plural reprimendas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin reprimenda (“things that must be repressed”), the neuter plural of the gerundive of reprimo (“to hold back, check”).^[2][3][4] The Academy's dictionary has given this Latin source since 1884, glossing it as “a thing that must be repressed”.^[5][6] Corominas lists the noun among the derivatives of reprimir, which was taken from the same Latin verb, and dates it from the Diccionario de Autoridades.^[7]

In the 1880s Echegaray and Barcia set it beside French réprimande, the noun of réprimander.^[8][9] The French noun, first recorded in 1549, was itself taken from the Latin phrase reprimenda culpa (“a fault that must be repressed”).^[10]

The Latin verb is formed from re- and premo (“to press”).^[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Diccionario de Autoridades, in its volume of 1737, defines reprimenda as the same as reprehensión “reprimand”, adding that the latter is the more common word.^[12] The earliest text in the CDH is José Francisco de Isla's Fray Gerundio de Campazas (1758), where the narrator asks how a satire can avoid letting the reprimenda fall on any particular person.^[13]

Semantic evolution

In the later 18th century the word spread in comedies and letters: Tomás de Iriarte's characters complain of a reprimenda, and in Moratín's La derrota de los pedantes (1789) judges give some of the offenders a good scolding before sending them home.^[13] Terreros glossed it with reprehensión, admonición and corrección, and with French réprimande and Italian rimprovero.^[14]

The Academy's dictionary of 1843 marked it as colloquial and sent the reader to reprensión.^[15] Salvá and Domínguez did the same.^[16][17] From 1869 the Academy defined it as a vehement and long-winded reprimand, the definition the DLE still gives.^[18][2] Moliner and Vox describe it more simply as a severe rebuke of someone's conduct.^[19][20] In the Americas it is recorded from 1813, in Peru, and later in Chile, Bogotá and Medellín.^[21]

Timeline

• 1737 – first recorded, in the fifth volume of the Diccionario de Autoridades.^[12][7]
• 1758 – José Francisco de Isla uses it in Fray Gerundio de Campazas.^[13]
• 1787–1788 – Tomás de Iriarte uses it in El señorito mimado and La señorita malcriada.^[13]
• 1813 – the first record from the Americas, in Peru.^[21]
• 1843 – the Academy marks it as colloquial.^[15]
• 1869 – the Academy defines it as a vehement and long reprimand.^[18]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives its Latin etymology for the first time.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A reprimand or telling-off, especially a severe and long one: Le cayó una buena reprimenda por llegar tarde.^[2][19][1]

Related words

• reprimir
• represión
• Latin reprimo
• French réprimande

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. reprimenda
3. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. reprimenda
4. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. reprimenda
5. ^ a b 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
6. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 865
7. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 827
8. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 149
9. ^ Barcia, Roque (1880–1883), Primer diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Tipográfico de Álvarez Hermanos, p. 675
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, s.v. reprimenda
13. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. reprimenda
14. ^ 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, 350
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 630
16. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 943
17. ^ Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 2, 1501
18. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 675
19. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. reprimenda
20. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. reprimenda
21. ^ 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. reprimenda