revelación

Forms

revelación f (plural revelaciones)^[1] Old Spanish wrote revelaçion and reuelaçion.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin revēlātiō (“an uncovering; revelation”), a learned word.^[4][1][5] Corominas records it, with the verb revelar, in the Corbacho of 1436 (1438 in his shorter dictionary), and DICCA-XV and Wikcionario treat it as a derivative of the verb.^[6][7][8][9]

The Latin noun is formed from revēlō (“to unveil”) with the suffix -tiō.^[1] The verb is re- with vēlō (“to cover, veil”),^[10] and DICCA-XV derives it from vēlum (“veil, curtain”).^[8] In Church Latin the noun meant a revelation, and also the Book of Revelation.^[11][12]

The same Latin word was borrowed as Portuguese revelação, Catalan revelació, French révélation and Italian rivelazione.^[1][13][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first hit is a manuscript of the Castigos dated 1293: a woman falls asleep and puesta en Reuelaçion vido vn tenplo muy fermoso “placed in a revelation, saw a very beautiful temple”.^[2] The DEMel's first primary record is the late 13th-century Libro del Tesoro.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Medieval texts use it above all for a divine revelation, often por revelación del Espíritu Santo, as in Leomarte's Sumas de la historia troyana (c. 1350) and the Vida de Santo Toribio de Liébana.^[2] Nebrija's Spanish–Latin dictionary gives Latin reuelatio and the Greek apocalypsis.^[8] Autoridades defined it as the disclosure of a secret or hidden truth, and by excellence the divine manifestation, and the 1899 edition of the Academy's dictionary kept these two senses.^[15][16]

Today the DLE puts the plain “act of revealing” first.^[4] A newer sense is a person or thing that stands out unexpectedly for its merits, often in apposition, as in artista revelación.^[17][9] In the Americas it is recorded from 1541, in Michoacán.^[18]

Timeline

• 1293 – a manuscript of the Castigos.^[2]
• late 13th century – the Libro del Tesoro.^[3]
• 1305–1328 – the Crónica de los estados peninsulares speaks of a revelacion divinal (in an 18th-century copy).^[2]
• c. 1350 – Leomarte's Sumas de la historia troyana.^[2]
• 1436 – the Corbacho, Corominas's first record.^[6]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin and Greek equivalents.^[8]
• 1541 – first record from the Americas, in Michoacán.^[18]
• 1899 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin revelatio.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or effect of revealing; disclosure.^[4][1]
2. A secret or hidden truth made known; a revelation: Sus revelaciones sobre el caso sorprendieron al juez.^[4][19]
3. (religion, often capitalised) Divine revelation: the knowledge that God makes known to people.^[4][20][19]
4. A person or thing that stands out unexpectedly for its qualities, often in apposition: el actor revelación del festival.^[17][9]

Related words

• revelar
• velo
• Latin revēlātiō

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. revelación
3. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. revelación
4. ^ 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. revelación
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. revelación
6. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 761
7. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. velo
8. ^ a b c d 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
9. ^ a b c Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
13. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. revelació
14. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 665
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. revelación
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 872
17. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. revelación
18. ^ 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. revelación
19. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. revelación
20. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. revelación