solución

Forms

solución f (plural soluciones)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin solūtiō (“loosening; payment; explanation”), a learned word.^[1][2][3] The Latin noun is formed from solvō (“to loosen, solve, pay”) with the suffix -tiō.^[4][1] Bénaben analyses the verb as sē- (“apart”) and luō (“to loosen”).^[5] Wikcionario derives the Spanish word from Old French solucion instead.^[6]

Corominas treats it in the article on absolver, among the learned derivatives of the Latin verb, and dates it to 1650, with an earlier example in Aldana, who died in 1578.^[7] Segura Munguía gives about 1570.^[8] The CDH shows that it was in use in the 13th century.^[9] The popular words from the participle solūtus (“loosened”) are suelto and soltar.^[3]

The same Latin noun gave Portuguese solução, recorded from the 14th century, Catalan solució and Italian soluzione.^[10][11][12] Nascentes calls the Portuguese word semi-learned.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first record without a later copy is the Judizios de las estrellas (1254–1260): e si quisieres saber que significa aquella uision, o que solucion a “and if you want to know what that vision means, or what its solution is”.^[9][14] Here it means “interpretation, resolution of a doubt”.^[14] Alfonso X's Lapidario uses solution for the dissolving of alum.^[14] The Libro de Apolonio (c. 1240, in a 14th-century copy) already has the riddle's soluçión.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The legal and financial sense “payment” appears in an ordinance for Zaragoza of 1391, which speaks of the solucion siquiere restitucion “payment or restitution” of outstanding sums.^[9] Nebrija's Latin–Spanish dictionary (1492) glosses Latin solutio as desatamiento “untying” and paga “payment”.^[15] The answer to a problem is recorded in Mexico in 1591.^[16] The Diccionario de Autoridades (1739) gives the sense “the answer to a doubt, the reasoning that resolves the difficulty of an argument”.^[17]

The Academy's dictionary of 1899 had the senses “untying or dissolving”, “answer to a doubt”, “denouement of a drama or epic”, “payment” and the mathematical sense, a quantity that satisfies an equation.^[18] The phrase solución de continuidad “break, interruption” was condemned by Baralt in 1855 as a pedantic Gallicism.^[19] In chemistry the word is a synonym of disolución, and in medicine it names a liquid given for treatment, such as saline.^[2][20] Ecuador, Chile and Argentina speak of a solución de parche “stopgap”.^[21] The verb solucionar dates from the end of the 19th century, and Cuervo thought it pedantic.^[8][7]

Timeline

• c. 1240 – soluçión in the Libro de Apolonio, known from a 14th-century copy.^[9]
• 1254–1260 – the Judizios de las estrellas, the first record without a later copy.^[9][14]
• 1391 – the sense “payment” in an ordinance for Zaragoza.^[9]
• 1591 – the first record in the Americas, from Mexico.^[16]
• 1650 – Corominas's date of first record.^[7]
• 1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the sense “answer to a doubt”.^[17]
• 1855 – Baralt condemns solución de continuidad as a Gallicism.^[19]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary adds the mathematical sense.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act and effect of dissolving (disolver).^[2]
2. A solution: the act of resolving a doubt, difficulty or problem, and the means found: Todavía no han encontrado una salida ni una solución.^[2][1]
3. An answer to a doubt, or the reasoning that removes the difficulty of an argument.^[2]
4. The denouement of the plot of a drama or epic poem.^[2]
5. payment, settlement.^[2][22]
6. The outcome or end of a process or affair.^[2]
7. (mathematics) Each of the values or functions that satisfy the conditions of a problem or an equation.^[2]
8. (chemistry) A homogeneous mixture of a dissolved substance in a liquid, = disolución: una solución de sal en agua.^[2][22]

Word family

• solucionar

Related words

• soluble
• resolver
• disolución
• suelto
• Latin solūtiō

Usage notes

Solución de continuidad means “an interruption, a break”, and is used mostly in the negative phrase sin solución de continuidad “without a break”.^[2][22] No haber solución means that something has no remedy.^[22]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. solución
3. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 654
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. solūtiō
5. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. solución
6. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. solución
7. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 23
8. ^ a b Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 719
9. ^ 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. solución
10. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. solução
11. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. solució
12. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 371
13. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. solução
14. ^ a b c d 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. solución
15. ^ 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. solución
16. ^ 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. solucción
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. solución
18. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 925
19. ^ a b Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado, p. 664
20. ^ Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. solución
21. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. solución
22. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. solución