restrictivo

Forms

restrictivo (feminine restrictiva, masculine plural restrictivos, feminine plural restrictivas)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin restrictus (“bound tight; limited”), the past participle of restringo (“to bind back, restrain”), with the Spanish suffix -ivo, as the DLE and Wiktionary explain.^[2][1] From 1884 to 2001 the Academy's dictionary named instead the supine of the Latin verb.^[3][4][5] Corominas gives it among the learned relatives of estreñir, after restringir (1570) and restricción (1737).^[6]

It has close equivalents in Catalan restrictiu, French restrictif and Italian restrittivo.^[7]

The Latin verb is formed from re- and stringo (“to bind fast, tighten”).^[8][1][9] Wiktionary sees in the simple verb a merger of two older verbs, one meaning “to strip off” and one meaning “to twist, tie”.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the Academy's dictionary of 1817, with two senses: having the power to restrict and tighten, and restricting, limiting or curbing.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The Academy kept both senses through the 19th century, and Salvá and Domínguez copied them.^[11][12][13] The DLE still has them, the first now a rare, physical one.^[2] In 19th-century America the word appears in economics and administration: an old restrictive trade system in Uruguay in 1865, restrictive measures on the drinking of chicha in Bogotá in 1891, and medidas restrictivas in Mexico in 1894.^[14] Moliner also uses it in grammar, of expressions that limit the scope of what was said before.^[5]

Timeline

• 1817 – restrictivo appears in the Academy's dictionary.^[10]
• 1865 – the first record from the Americas, in Uruguay.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives a Latin etymology.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having the power to restrict (restringir) and tighten.^[2]
2. restrictive: that restricts, limits or curtails: El ayuntamiento aprobó una normativa muy restrictiva sobre el ruido.^[2][5][1]
3. (grammar) Of an expression: limiting the scope of something said before.^[5]

Related words

• restringir
• restricción
• restricto
• estricto
• Latin restrictus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. restrictivo
3. ^ 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. 928
4. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. restrictivo
5. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. restrictivo
6. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. estreñir
7. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 167
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 759
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 634
12. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 948
13. ^ 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, 1506
14. ^ 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. restrictivo