subsidio

Forms

subsidio m (plural subsidios)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin subsidium (“reserve troops; reinforcement, help”).^[2][3][1][4] The Latin noun is derived from subsīdō (“to settle down; to lie in wait, be in reserve”), formed of sub- (“under”) and sedeō (“to sit”).^[2][5][6] De Vaan traces the simple verb to Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”).^[7]

The same Latin noun is Catalan subsidi, Portuguese subsídio, French subside (from 1236, “support”) and Italian sussidio.^{[1][8][9][10]}

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record in a Romance text in the CDH is a document of the Jewish community (aljama) of Zaragoza of 1331, which lists a subsidio among levies such as exaccion.^[11] Juan Fernández de Heredia's Aragonese translation of Eutropius (1377–1399) uses it in the Latin military sense: the Latin allies sent horsemen en subsidio de los romanos “in support of the Romans”.^[11][12] Corominas dates the word in Castilian from 1438.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Latin the word named the troops held back in the third line of battle, and then help or support of any kind.^[6][13][14] Medieval Latin used it for a feudal aid, a payment made by way of help.^[15][16] Both senses, help and levy, reached Spanish: the Diccionario de Autoridades (1739) defined it as extraordinary help or aid, quoting the gloss on Mena, and as a grant of church revenues that the Holy See made to the kings of Spain for the war against the infidels.^[17] Terreros added the sense “a tax”.^[18]

The Academy added in 1869 a contribution imposed on trade and industry.^[19] In the 20th century the main sense became a public payment, as in subsidio de desempleo “unemployment benefit”; the papal grant is now marked as no longer used.^[3][20][4] In Nicaragua it is paid sick leave.^[3] Santamaría recorded the figurative sense “worry, anxiety” in Colombia.^[21]

Timeline

• 1331 – a document of the aljama of Zaragoza.^[11]
• 1377–1399 – Juan Fernández de Heredia's translation of Eutropius.^[11]
• 1438 – the first Castilian record Corominas gives.^[2]
• 1492 – Nebrija's Latin–Spanish dictionary glosses Latin subsidium as troops for the relief of a battle line.^[22]
• 1519 – the first record in the Americas, in Puerto Rico, spelt susydio.^[23]
• 1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the general and the papal senses.^[17]
• 1739 – the derivative subsidiario first recorded.^[2]
• 1869 – the Academy adds the contribution imposed on trade and industry.^[19]

Meanings

Noun

1. A public benefit paid for a set period: Cobra el subsidio desde marzo.^[3][4]
2. Any financial aid given by an official body; a subsidy.^[20][4][1]
3. A contribution imposed on trade and industry.^[3]
4. (Nicaragua) Paid sick leave.^[3]
5. (obsolete) A grant from church revenues made by the Holy See to the kings of Spain.^[3][17]

Word family

• subsidiario
• subsidiar

Related words

• Latin subsidium
• French subside

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. subsidio
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. subsidio
4. ^ a b c d Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial
5. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México
6. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll
9. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ 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. subsidio
12. ^ Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org
13. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses
15. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
16. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
17. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. subsidio
18. ^ 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
19. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra
20. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
21. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo
22. ^ 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
23. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies