sustanciar

Forms

sustanciar (first-person singular present sustancio, first-person singular preterite sustancié, past participle sustanciado)^[1] The spelling substanciar is also used.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish sustancia + -ar.^[1][3][4] The DCECH and the BDELC list it among the derivatives of the noun without a date.^[5][6]

The noun is a learned word, from Latin substantia (“substance, essence”), recorded from Berceo, formed on substō (“to stand under”) as a calque of Ancient Greek ὑπόστασις (hupóstasis).^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DICCA-XV gives the first record from the Cancionero de Herberay (1445–1463), in the sense “to give a material basis or form to something”: pero no la sustançiada forma “but not the form made substance”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the Americas the legal sense, “to conduct a case to judgment”, is found from 1539 in New Granada, and in 1549 in Santo Domingo: sustanciaron el proceso “they conducted the trial”.^[7] The Diccionario de Autoridades, under substanciar, gives three senses: “to summarise, make an extract”, “to verify the truth of something” and, in law, “to prepare a case until it is ready for judgment”.^[8] The Academy kept these in 1817 and 1843; in 1884 it dropped “to verify” and gave the etymology, “from substancia”.^[9][10][4] The DLE now gives “to carry out and give material form to a project, an idea or a feeling” and the legal sense; the 2001 edition still had “to summarise”.^[11][12]

Timeline

• 1445–1463 – first record, in the Cancionero de Herberay.^[3]
• 1539 – the legal sense, in New Granada.^[7]
• 1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades enters it under substanciar.^[8]
• 1817 – the Academy enters it under sustanciar.^[9]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary derives it from substancia.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To carry out and give material form to a project, an idea or a feeling.^[11]
2. (transitive, law) To process (tramitar) a matter or a case until it is decided by a judgment; to try a case: El juzgado tardó dos años en sustanciar la causa.^[11][13][1]
3. (transitive) To summarise (resumir), make an extract of.^[12][13]

Word family

• sustanciación

Related words

• sustancial
• sustancioso
• transustanciar
• Latin substantia

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. substanciar
3. ^ a b c 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. sustanciar
4. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 993
5. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 776
6. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sustancia
7. ^ 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. sustanciar
8. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro
9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 822
10. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 683
11. ^ a b c 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. sustanciar
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. sustanciar
13. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sustanciar