significar

Forms

significar (first-person singular present significo, first-person singular preterite signifiqué, past participle significado)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin significō (“to indicate by signs; to mean”), first used by Berceo.^[2][3][1] The Latin verb is formed on signum (“sign, mark”) with -ficō (“to make”).^[4][1][5] Early Latin also had a deponent significor.^[4][1] Spelling with ⟨sin-⟩ was usual in classical Spanish: Covarrubias writes ⟨sinificacion⟩ and ⟨sinificado⟩.^[2][6] The inherited descendant of the same Latin noun is seña, from its plural ⟨signa⟩.^[2]

Portuguese significar, Galician significar and French signifier are of the same origin.^[1] The popular Old French outcome senechier meant “to announce”.^[7]

The noun goes back to *sekno- (“statue, sign”) and *sek-no- (“cut”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Berceo's Del sacrificio de la misa (1228–1246, in an early 14th-century copy) uses it of a symbol: the goat that the priests killed „a Él significava, la su carne mortal” “signified Him, His mortal flesh”.^[9] DEMel's first record is in Berceo's Vida de Santo Domingo, of about 1230.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's astrological prose uses it for what a planet portends, good or ill.^[11] Covarrubias (1611) defined it as making something understood by signs.^[6] Autoridades gave two senses: to represent something other than itself, by nature or by convention, and to make known or declare.^[12] The Academy's 1884 edition added the narrower sense of a word expressing the idea of which it is the sign.^[13]

The intransitive “to matter, carry weight” and the pronominal significarse “to stand out” are modern senses.^[3][1] Moliner also records significarse for declaring one's political ideas openly.^[14][1]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – first recorded, in Berceo.^[2][15]
• 1254 – Alfonso X's Judizios de las estrellas uses it for what a planet signifies.^[11]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin significo and significor.^[16]
• 1611 – Covarrubias writes the derivatives as sinificacion and sinificado.^[6]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades defines “to represent” and “to make known”.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary derives it from signum and facere and adds the linguistic sense.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. To signify: to be a sign, symbol or indication of something else, by nature or convention: Una bandera blanca significa rendición.^[3][1]
2. To make known, declare: El embajador significó al gobierno su protesta.^[3][14]
3. (linguistics) Of a word or phrase, to mean: ¿Qué significa esta palabra?^[3][1]
4. (intransitive) To matter, have importance: Aquel premio significó mucho para ella.^[3][14]
5. (pronominal) To stand out or become known for some quality.^[3][1]
6. (pronominal) To declare one's views openly.^[14][1]

Word family

• significado
• significación
• significativo
• significante

Related words

• significancia
• seña
• signo
• Latin signum
• French signifier

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 209
3. ^ 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. significar
4. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. significō
5. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 645
6. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1299
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. significāre
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. sīgnum
9. ^ Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. significar
10. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. significar
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. significar
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 111
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. 976
14. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. significar
15. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 764
16. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 417