saciedad

Forms

saciedad f (uncountable)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin satietās (“sufficiency; satiety”), a learned word.^[2][1][3] The Latin noun is formed from satis (“enough”) with the suffix -tās.^[4][1] The adverb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sh₂-ti- (“satisfaction, satiation”), through Proto-Italic *sati-; from the same root come satur (“well-fed”) and its verb, the source of saturar.^[5][1] Spanish saciar and asaz belong to the same Latin family.^[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest hit in the CDH is in Enrique de Villena's translation and glosses of the Aeneid (1427–1428, in a copy of 1442), spelt saçiedat: the reader's wish to know who the gods were is to be satisfied, por saçiedat de su deseo “for the satiety of his desire”.^[7] The first hit without a later copy is in Alfonso de Palencia's Universal vocabulario (1490), where saciedad or hartura “fullness” translates Latin saturitas.^[7] Corominas dated the word only from the beginning of the 18th century.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Sixteenth-century medical books use it of overfeeding, and Autoridades (1739) defined it as the fullness in which taste and desire rest, with a medical example.^[7][8] The phrase hasta la saciedad “to the point of satiety, over and over” is recorded in a letter of 1613.^[7] From 1843 the Academy defined it as the fullness produced by satisfying a desire to excess; today the DLE defines it as the complete satisfaction of a desire.^[9][2]

Timeline

• 1427–1428 – Enrique de Villena's Aeneid has saçiedat (in a copy of 1442).^[7]
• 1490 – Alfonso de Palencia's Universal vocabulario uses saciedad.^[7]
• 1613 – the phrase hasta la saciedad in a letter of Diego Sarmiento de Acuña.^[7]
• 1739 – Autoridades enters the word.^[8]
• 1843 – the Academy defines it as fullness from satisfying a desire to excess.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. satiety: the full satisfaction of a wish or appetite, often to excess: Comió hasta sentir saciedad.^[2][10][1]
2. (medicine) The feeling that hunger and thirst are fully satisfied.^[11]

Related words

• saciar
• saturar
• asaz
• Latin satis

Usage notes

Hasta la saciedad means “to the limit, fully”, mostly with verbs of saying and repeating.^[2][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. saciedad
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. asaz
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 370
7. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. saciedad
8. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 11
9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 648
10. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. saciedad
11. ^ Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. saciedad