supremacía

Forms

supremacía f (plural supremacías)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English supremacy, which Corominas dates to the 16th century and explains as a derivative of supreme on the model of primacy.^[2][3][4] Corominas suggests that it may have come through French suprématie (1688), and Wiktionary derives it from the French word.^[2][1] The French word is itself borrowed from English, and is recorded from 1651 for the religious supremacy of the English sovereign over the Anglican Church.^[5]

Older Spanish dictionaries derived it simply from supremo.^[6] That adjective is an earlier learned word, from Latin suprēmus, the superlative of superus (“upper”).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record in the CDH is from Feijoo's Cartas eruditas y curiosas (1753): the respect owed to the supremacía de su dignidad “the supremacy of his rank”.^[7] Corominas noted that the Academy's dictionary had the word in 1843 but not in 1817.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Early uses are mostly religious and political: in 1799 Luis Gutiérrez argued that tolerance in matters of worship implies supremacía, and in 1818 Martínez Marina wrote of the Anglican supremacía.^[7] In 1817 a text from Havana spoke of the supremacía over the future republics of the New World.^[8] Salvá (1846) and the Academy (1869) defined it as “superiority, or the highest degree in any line”.^[9][10] The DLE adds the sense “pre-eminence, hierarchical superiority”.^[4]

Timeline

• 16th century – English supremacy, according to Corominas.^[2]
• 1753 – first record in the CDH, in Feijoo.^[7]
• 1817 – first record in the Americas, in Havana.^[8]
• 1843 – first in the Academy's dictionary, which did not have it in 1817.^[2][3]
• 1899 – the Academy shortens the definition to “highest degree in any line”.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. The highest degree in any field or line.^[4]
2. Pre-eminence (preeminencia), supremacy, hierarchical superiority: El partido perdió la supremacía en el parlamento.^[4][12]

Related words

• supremo
• primacía
• supremidad
• English supremacy
• French suprématie

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 277
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sobre
4. ^ a b c d 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. supremacía
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 416
7. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. supremacía
8. ^ 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. supremacía
9. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 1022
10. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 729
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 936
12. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. supremacía