severidad

Forms

severidad f (plural severidades)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin sevēritās (“sternness, severity”).^[2][1] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of severo and dates it from Alfonso de Palencia and Nebrija (1490);^[3][4] DICCA-XV also calls it a derivative of the adjective.^[5] The CDH has the noun a century earlier, from 1376–1396, before Corominas's first record of the adjective itself (Palencia, 1490).^[6][3]

The Latin noun is formed from sevērus (“stern, strict”) and -tās.^[7][1] The adjective's origin is uncertain: Walde–Hofmann and Meiser see a compound of a prefix “apart” and the root of vērus (“true”), which de Vaan finds hard to accept for the sense; he considers attractive Nussbaum's derivation from Proto-Indo-European *seǵʰ- (“to hold”), with an original meaning “steadfast, tough”.^[8] The neighbouring languages have Catalan severitat, French sévérité, Italian severità and Portuguese severidade.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Heredia's Libro de actoridades (1376–1396) has a heading De rigor et seueridat “of rigour and severity”.^[6] In a chronicle translated in the same years a king acts with iusta rigor e seueridat “just rigour and severity” in punishing the wicked: the first sense is sternness in punishment.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In the 15th century the word is also used of an austere life (seueridat de uida, c. 1445) and of the stern justice of God (Santillana, before 1453).^[6] Nebrija gives Latin grauitas, seueritas and tristicia as its equivalents.^[5] The Autoridades (vol. 6, 1739) distinguishes three senses: harshness in manner or in punishment, seriousness or gravity, and exactness in keeping a law or rule.^[11] Terreros adds a rough, unsociable virtue.^[12] In 1884 the Academy reduced the definition to “quality of being severo”, which the current dictionary keeps.^[13][2] Corominas calls the use of severo for “serious, heavy” (pérdidas severas “severe losses”) a crude anglicism of the American press.^[3]

Timeline

• 1376–1396 – Heredia's Libro de actoridades.^[6]
• 1437 – El Tostado, Libro de las paradojas.^[6]
• 1490 – Alfonso de Palencia, Corominas's first record.^[3][4]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija's Spanish–Latin dictionary.^[5]
• 1739 – the Autoridades gives three senses.^[11]
• 1781 – first record from the Americas, in New Granada.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy defines it as the quality of being severo.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. severity, sternness: the quality of being severo, harsh in dealing with others or in punishment: El profesor corregía los exámenes con severidad.^[2][15][11]
2. Strictness and exactness in keeping or enforcing a law or rule.^[16][11]
3. Seriousness, gravity of manner.^[11][17]
4. Plainness and restraint in a work, without excess.^[17]

Related words

• severo
• aseverar
• perseverar
• Latin sevērus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. severidad
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 235
4. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. severo
5. ^ a b c 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. severidad
6. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. severidad
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 317
10. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva
11. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 105
12. ^ 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, 482
13. ^ 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. 973
14. ^ 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. severidad
15. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. severidad
16. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. severidad
17. ^ a b Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org