reverente

Forms

reverente m or f (masculine and feminine plural reverentes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin reverēns (“respectful”), the present participle of revereor (“to stand in awe of, respect”), a learned word.^[2][3][4][5] Corominas treats it with reverencia in the family of vergüenza, which continues verēcundia (“modesty, shame”), a derivative of the same simple verb vereor (“to show respect, fear”).^[2] The verb is formed from Latin re- + vereor.^[5][1]

The simple verb goes back to *wer-ē- (“to be wary”) and *u(e)r-eh₁- (“to note, sense”).^[6] Wiktionary compares ὁράω (horáō, “to see”) and the English word wary.^[1]

The same Latin participle gave Catalan reverent, Italian riverente and Portuguese reverente, all learned words;^{[7][8][9][10]} Houaiss dates the Portuguese word to 1485.^{[7][8][9][10]}

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest records in the CDH are Aragonese deeds of 1367 and 1368 with the apocopated form reuerent, always in the title el reuerent padre “the reverend father” given to an abbot.^[11] Juan Fernández de Heredia's translations of the 1370s–1390s use the same title, muyt reuerent en Christo padre for Heredia himself.^[11] Corominas's first record is the Marqués de Santillana, in the 15th century.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

From an honorific title the word widened to anyone who shows respect: a Mexican text of 1575 praises a good woman as reverente a todos “respectful to all”.^[12] Autoridades (1737) defined it as what shows reverence or respect, quoting Solís on letters con proposiciones poco reverentes “with proposals hardly respectful”.^[13] Terreros sent the reader to respetuoso, obediente and reverencial.^[14] The Academy's definition has hardly changed since 1817, and the 1884 edition added the Latin etymology.^[15][16][3] The adverb reverentemente is in Oudin and in 17th-century texts.^[2]

Timeline

• 1367 – an Aragonese deed calls an abbot el reuerent padre.^[11]
• 1376–1396 – Juan Fernández de Heredia's translations use muyt reuerent as a title.^[11]
• 15th century – the Marqués de Santillana uses reverente, the DCECH's first record.^[2]
• 1575 – the first record from the Americas, in Mexico.^[12]
• 1737 – Autoridades defines it as showing reverence or respect.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology from Latin reverens.^[16]

Meanings

Adjective

1. reverent, respectful: showing reverence (reverencia) or respect: Los fieles guardaban un silencio reverente.^[3][17][1]

Word family

• reverentemente

Related words

• reverencia
• reverenciar
• reverendo
• irreverente
• vergüenza
• Latin revereor

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 788
3. ^ 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. reverente
4. ^ 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. reverente
5. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. reverent
8. ^ a b Barcia, Roque (1880–1883), Primer diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Tipográfico de Álvarez Hermanos, p. 701
9. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. reverente
10. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. reverente
11. ^ 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. reverente
12. ^ 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. reverente
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 611
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, 372
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 762
16. ^ 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. 932
17. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. reverente