silencio

Forms

silencio m (plural silencios)^[1] Old Spanish also writes silençio, and the legal formula perpetuo silentio keeps the Latin spelling.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin silentium (“silence, stillness”), a learned word first recorded in Berceo.^[4][5][6][1] Corominas notes that both of Berceo's examples refer to the silence of the monastic rule, and thinks the word entered Spanish by that route.^[4] The same Latin word is Portuguese silêncio, Catalan silenci, French silence and Italian silenzio, all learned.^{[7][8][9][10]}

The Latin noun is formed from silēns (“silent”), the present participle of sileō (“to be silent”), with the suffix -ium.^[11][1][5] De Vaan reconstructs *silo- (“quiet, silent”) and compares Gothic 𐌰𐌽𐌰𐍃𐌹𐌻𐌰𐌽 (anasilan, “to become quiet”).^[12] Wiktionary derives the root from Proto-Indo-European *seyl- (“still, quiet”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Berceo's Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos (c. 1236, in a late 13th-century copy) has a king rebuke a monk: Parece de silencio que non sodes usado “it seems you are not used to silence”.^[2][4] The silence is that of the monastic rule, as in his other example.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's law already names the monastic duty of silence beside fasting and vigils.^[13] In legal language poner perpetuo silencio meant to bar a claimant from bringing a suit again; the formula appears from about 1250 and is still frequent in 16th-century documents from the Americas.^[2][14] Nebrija's equivalent was callamiento “keeping quiet”.^[15] Autoridades defined the word as the voluntary abstention from speech, and the quiet of a place without noise as a metaphor.^[16]

Later Academy editions added the silence of writings and, in 1899, the musical rest.^[17] The DLE now also lists the legal sense of the administration's failure to answer, silencio administrativo, and the military bugle call at the end of the day.^[6] The word was common in the classics, and Covarrubias mentions Harpocrates, the pagan god of silence.^[4][18]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – first records, in Berceo.^[5][4]
• c. 1250 – the Vidal Mayor uses the legal formula perpetuo silentio.^[2]
• 1256–1300 – Alfonso X's legal prose speaks of the monks' silence.^[13]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija glosses it with Latin silentium.^[15][19]
• 1543 – first record in the Americas, in Panama, in the legal formula.^[14]
• 1611 – Covarrubias explains it as Latin taciturnitas.^[18]
• 1739 – Autoridades gives the phrase imponer silencio.^[16]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology and the musical sense.^[17]
• 1923 – the verb silenciar is first recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. silence: abstention from speaking: Todos guardaron silencio.^[6][1]
2. Absence of noise: el silencio del campo de noche.^[6][20]
3. The omission of something in writing; lack of news from someone.^[6]
4. (law) The administration's failure to answer a request, to which the law gives the force of approval or refusal.^[6]
5. (military) The bugle call ordering silence to the troops at the end of the day.^[6]
6. (music) A rest; the sign that marks it.^[6][21][1]

Interjection

1. Used to order people to be quiet: ¡Silencio en la sala!^[20][21]

Word family

• silencioso
• silenciar

Related words

• silenciador
• silente
• callar
• Latin silentium

Usage notes

Colombia, Mexico, Central America and Ecuador also use silencio (feminine silencia) as an adjective “silent, quiet”, a use Cuervo rejected in Bogotá.^[22][23]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. silencio
3. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. silencio
4. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 246
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. silencio
6. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. silencio
7. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 3089
8. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 7, 921
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 711
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ 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. silencio
14. ^ 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. silencio
15. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 417
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 113
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 915
18. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1299
19. ^ 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. silencio
20. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. silencio
21. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. silencio
22. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 86
23. ^ Cuervo, Rufino José (1914), Apuntaciones críticas sobre el lenguaje bogotano, 6th ed., París: A. & R. Roger y F. Chernoviz, p. 464