rol

rol¹ role

Pronunciation

• /ˈroul/, [ˈrou̯l], /ˈrol/^[1]

Forms

rol m (plural roles or rols)^[1]

Etymology

The word for a part or function is borrowed from English role (“part played by an actor”), which is from French rôle.^[2][3][1] The Puerto Rican Tesoro also lists it as an adapted anglicism, while the DTME and the Wikcionario derive it directly from French.^[4][5][6]

The French word first meant a roll of parchment or a list, and goes back to rotulus (“roll”), a diminutive of Latin rota (“wheel”).^[7] The French word took on the sense of an actor's lines and of the character he plays in the 16th century, and the sense of a person's function in society even earlier.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first Spanish record of the theatrical sense is in Juan Bautista Alberdi's Tobías o La cárcel a la vela (Argentina, 1844–1851), where a dog is added to esos tres roles “those three roles” as a fourth character.^[8] The DTME also dates the theatrical term to 1844.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense “function, part someone plays” soon followed: in 1854 Vicente Fidel López wrote of a Genoese firm that jugaba un rol extraordinario en los negocios de América “played an extraordinary role in the trade of America”, and a Colombian novel of about 1858 sets el primer papel beside el primer rol.^[8]

Purists objected: Batres Jáuregui, quoting Bello, condemned hacer un rol and un gran rol as a copy of the French phrase, where Spanish says papel.^[9] Garzón recorded it in Argentina in 1910 for an office or occupation and for standing in politics or society, and Santamaría in 1942 as the Chilean and Argentine word for papel.^[10][11] The Academy's dictionary of 2001 gives only the sense “function”, with the English etymology; the current DLE adds the part an actor plays, and the phrases rol de género and juego de rol.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1844–1851 – Alberdi's Tobías o La cárcel a la vela uses roles for the parts of a play.^[8][5]
• 1854 – Vicente Fidel López writes jugaba un rol extraordinario.^[8]
• 1892 – Batres Jáuregui, following Bello, rejects hacer un rol as a Gallicism.^[9]
• 1910 – Garzón records the Argentine use for an office or a standing in society.^[10]
• 2001 – the Academy's dictionary enters the word as a loan from English.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A role or function that someone or something performs: Ella asumió el rol de portavoz del grupo.^[2][12][1]
2. (theatre) The part an actor plays in a play or film.^[2][13]
3. rol de género: a gender role, the behaviour a society expects of a person because of their sex.^[2]
4. juego de rol: a role-playing game.^[2][1]

Word family

• juego de rol
• rol de género

rol² roll, list

Pronunciation

• /ˈrol/, [ˈrol]^[1]

Forms

rol m (plural roles)^[1]

Etymology

The word for a list or roll is borrowed from Catalan rol, from Late Latin rotulus (“little wheel; roll”).^[2][12][14] Prat Sabater counts it among the Catalan loans ending in ⟨-ol⟩.^[15] Wiktionary gives the Late Latin form as rotula (“small wheel”), and calls the word a doublet of rótula.^[1]

Corominas instead derives it from French rôle, a semi-learned outcome of the same Latin word, as did the Academy in 1884 and 1899 and as García de Diego and the DHLF do.^{[16][17][18][19][20][7]}

The Latin word is a diminutive of Latin rota (“wheel”); in Medieval Latin it meant a roll of papyrus or parchment, and in particular a death roll.^[21][22] Its learned Spanish descendant is rótulo, and rollo continues it by a semi-learned route or through Portuguese.^[17] The same Latin word gives Portuguese rolo and Catalan rotlle, the Catalan word through a shortened Latin form.^[23][20]

Earliest recorded meaning

Alonso de Santa Cruz's Crónica del Emperador Carlos V (c. 1550) names among the English envoys who congratulated the emperor el maestro de los roles, an English official.^[8] Corominas dates the word to the third quarter of the 16th century, in the Comedia Eufrosina, a text the Diccionario de Autoridades quotes: Acá os hallo en mi rol garrido amor “here I find you on my list, fair love”.^[16][24]

Semantic evolution

The Diccionario de Autoridades calls it a French word, used above all in the royal households for the payroll of the servants, each of whom signs under his entry for the sum he receives.^[24] A court document of 1660 already adds a carpenter's pay al rol de gastos de la jornada.^[8] Terreros explains it as a list or catalogue of many names.^[25]

The nautical sense appears in the 19th century: Salvá in 1846 records the naval commander's licence listing the sailors of a merchant ship, which serves as its passport, and the Academy adds it in 1869.^[26][27] Alcalá Galiano mentions passengers not entered en el papel ó cuaderno llamado rol.^[8] Today the DLE gives a roll, a list, and the document recording the crew of a ship.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1550 – Alonso de Santa Cruz mentions el maestro de los roles.^[8]
• 1550–1575 – the Comedia Eufrosina, Corominas's first record.^[16]
• 1660 – a court document speaks of the rol de gastos.^[8]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades enters the word as French, used in the royal households.^[24][5]
• 1816 – the first record in the Americas, in Cuba, for a ship's crew list.^[28]
• 1846 – Salvá records the naval licence with the list of the crew.^[26]
• 1884 – the Academy derives it from French rôle.^[18]
• 1917 – Alemany derives it from Catalan rol.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A rolde or rollo: a roll.^[2]
2. A list or roll of names: Su nombre no figuraba en el rol de socios.^[2][12][1]
3. (nautical) The document that lists the crew of a ship, with other details about them.^[2][12]

Word family

• enrolar