revolución

Forms

revolución f (plural revoluciones)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin revolūtiō (“a revolving, return”).^[2][1][3] The Late Latin noun is formed from Latin revolvō (“to roll back”) with the suffix -tiō.^[1][4] The verb is made of re- (“back, again”) and volvō (“to roll, turn”).^[5][1]

In Late Latin, from Saint Augustine on, the word meant “return, unrolling” and the transmigration of souls; in Medieval Latin it was the periodic return of a heavenly body to its starting point.^[6][7] Bénaben attributes the political sense, from the 17th century, to the influence of English revolution.^[6]

The same Latin word is Catalan revolució, Portuguese revolução and French révolution.^[8][9][7] The verb revolver continues the Latin verb itself.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest hits in the CDH are Alfonsine astronomical and astrological books: the Judizios de las estrellas (1254–1260) speaks of las reuoluciones de las nacencias “the revolutions of nativities”, the yearly returns of a birth chart.^[10] The Cánones de Albateni (1276–1277) explains how to compute las reuoluciones de los annos, when the Sun returns to the point where it stood.^[10][11]

Semantic evolution

Corominas first finds the word in Alfonso de la Torre, about 1440, and notes that the 15th century was a time of revolts in Catalonia, though Catalan has the word only from 1473.^[3] In the 16th century it already meant political upheaval: a 1546 text from Santo Domingo speaks of revoluciones de los Estados, and a document from Chile of 1586 pairs revoluciones y alzamientos “revolts and risings”.^[12]

The Diccionario de Autoridades (1737) defined it as the act of revolving, the full turn of the celestial sphere, unrest or sedition, a disturbance of the bodily humours and, figuratively, a change in the state or government of things; for astrologers it was still the yearly judgement cast from a person's birthday.^[13] The Academy's 1899 edition added a violent change in a nation's political institutions.^[14] The derivative revolucionario came in the 19th century from révolutionnaire.^[3][15] Today it also means any rapid, deep change, and in mechanics a full turn of a part on its axis.^[2]

Timeline

• 1254–1260 – the Judizios de las estrellas uses it of astrological returns.^[10]
• 1276–1277 – the Cánones de Albateni uses it for the Sun's yearly return.^[10][11]
• c. 1440 – Corominas's first record, in Alfonso de la Torre.^[3]
• 1492 – Nebrija's Latin–Spanish dictionary glosses revolutio as aquel rebolver.^[16]
• 1546 – a text from Santo Domingo speaks of the revoluciones de los Estados.^[12]
• 1737 – the Diccionario de Autoridades has the senses “revolving”, “turn of the heavens” and “sedition”.^[13]
• 1899 – the Academy defines a violent change in political institutions.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or effect of revolving or turning over.^[2]
2. A deep, usually violent change in the political and social structures of a nation, a revolution: la Revolución mexicana.^[2][1]
3. A popular uprising or revolt.^[2]
4. A rapid and deep change in anything: Internet supuso una revolución en el comercio.^[2][17]
5. (astronomy) The movement of a heavenly body through a complete orbit.^[2][1]
6. (geometry) The rotation of a figure about an axis, which generates a solid or a surface.^[2]
7. (mechanics) A full turn of a part on its axis: revoluciones por minuto.^[2][17]

Word family

• cuentarrevoluciones
• revolucionario
• revolucionar

Related words

• revolver
• revuelta
• Latin revolūtiō
• French révolution

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. revolución
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 839
4. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. révolution
8. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. revolució
9. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. revolução
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. revolución
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. revolución
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 614
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 874
15. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 665
16. ^ 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. revolución
17. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. revolución