rotundo

Forms

rotundo (feminine rotunda, masculine plural rotundos, feminine plural rotundas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin rotundus (“round, wheel-shaped”), a learned word; the inherited doublet is redondo.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The DLE derives the Latin adjective from rota (“wheel”).^[4]

The OLD takes the Latin adjective to be probably an old verbal adjective of the type of secundus.^[6] De Vaan suggests that it was formed from a present *rete/o- (“to run, roll”), with the vowel of the noun for “wheel”, or from a lost o-grade present *(re-)rot-.^[7] The noun itself goes back to *Hrot-o- (“revolving”).^[7] Corominas reports Benveniste's view that the older form was retundus and that of Ernout and Meillet, who reject it and assume a dissimilation; he finds the Romance evidence compatible with both.^[2]

The same Latin word is Italian rotondo, which Corominas calls a learned remake of the older ritondo.^[2] The English words rotund and round come from it as well.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The BDELC dates the learned rotundo, used in a figurative sense, to 1580.^[3][8] The DCECH gives a later first record, Olivares Murillo in 1684, the author quoted in Autoridades: Les ciñó las cabezas, con tal insignia en forma rotunda “he girded their heads with such an emblem in a round shape”.^[2][9] In the Americas the word is found in 1618 in Cuzco, in the plant name aristoloquia rotunda, and in 1711 in Guatemala, where the world is de figura conglobada y rotunda.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades and the Academy's dictionaries until 1869 defined rotundo only as a synonym of redondo “round”.^[9][11][12] Baralt in 1855 accepted rotundo for a categorical answer, as in un sí o un no rotundo, but objected to applying it to a tone or a gesture.^[13] The Academy added two figurative senses in 1884: of language, full and sonorous, and clear, precise and decisive.^[14] These are the main senses today: an answer, a denial or a success can be rotundo.^[4][15][1] Moliner notes that in the sense “round” it is used mostly of the shapes of a woman's body.^[15]

Timeline

• 1580 – first record of the learned rotundo, in a figurative sense, according to the BDELC.^[3]
• 1618 – aristoloquia rotunda, a plant name, in Cuzco.^[10]
• 1684 – Olivares Murillo writes en forma rotunda, the DCECH's first record.^[2]
• 1737 – Autoridades defines it as the same as redondo.^[9]
• 1855 – Baralt accepts it for a categorical answer.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary adds the senses “full and sonorous” and “clear, precise, decisive”.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. round, rotund: circular or spherical; redondo.^[4][15][1]
2. Of language: full and sonorous: Habló con una voz grave y rotunda.^[4][15][1]
3. Complete, precise and categorical, leaving no room for doubt: La propuesta recibió un rechazo rotundo.^[4][15][1]
4. Of a success: resounding: La gira fue un triunfo rotundo..^[1][16]

Word family

• rotundamente
• rotundez

Related words

• rotundidad
• redondo
• rotonda
• rueda
• Latin rotundus

Usage notes

The DLE also gives the feminine rotunda as a noun for a temple, building or hall with a circular plan, the same thing as rotonda, which comes from Italian.^[4][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 834
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. redondo
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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. rotundo
5. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. rotundo
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 671
9. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 646
10. ^ 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. rotundo
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 645
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 690
13. ^ a b Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado, p. 620
14. ^ 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. 943
15. ^ a b c d e Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. rotundo
16. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. rotundo