término

Forms

término m (plural términos)^[1] Old Spanish texts write termino, termyno and also tiermenos.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin terminus (“boundary stone, limit”).^[3][4][5][1] Corominas treats it as a learned word, taken from Latin, though it was used in every period and became thoroughly popular.^[3] The DEEH sets beside it the outcomes of the Latin word in the neighbouring languages, Portuguese termo and Catalan terme.^[6] Bénaben separates the sense “word, term”, which he derives from Medieval Latin terminus, where it had come to mean what delimits a meaning in a sentence.^[7]

The Latin noun comes from Proto-Italic *term(e)nos, from Proto-Indo-European *térmn̥ (“boundary”); it is related to Ancient Greek τέρμα (térma, “goal”).^[1] The OLD compares the rarer synonym termen and suggests that the noun was formed from the plural of that word.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is Berceo, in the first half of the 13th century.^[3][4] In the earliest texts it names the territory of a town: the Fuero de Madrid (in a copy of the first half of the 13th century) speaks of harm done in Madrid & in suo termino.^[9] Alfonso X uses it both for the last point something reaches and for a territory under an authority.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Already in Alfonso X the word covered the end of something in space and time, a border and the land of a town.^[10] Nebrija gives Latin equivalents for four senses: an end, a territory, a boundary and the finishing post of a race.^[3] In the classical writers it often meant “conduct, manner” and “courtesy”, a use that survives in the plural términos “manner of behaving or speaking”.^[3][5]

The sense “word, expression” was in the dictionaries by Terreros, who also notes the logical use, the three terms of a syllogism.^[11] Today the DLE lists, besides the end and the boundary, the municipal territory (término municipal), a time limit, a word of a profession or science, a member of a relation and a plane of a picture.^[5] In the United States término is used, after the English word term, for a term of office.^[12]

Timeline

• 1182 – in termino suo in a Latin legal fragment, the CDH's earliest dated hit; it is a record of the Latin word.^[9]
• 1208 – the Romance text of the Cortes of León has á cierto termino “by a fixed date”.^[9]
• 1220–1250 – Berceo, the first record for Corominas.^[3][4]
• 1254 – the Alfonsine Libro conplido uses it for a territory: en una uilla & en un termino.^[10]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives finis, ager, limes and meta as its Latin equivalents.^[3]
• 1526 – the first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo, of el término de esta ciudad.^[13]
• 1786–1793 – Terreros defines it as “word, expression”.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. end, the last point that something reaches.^[5][1]
2. The last moment of the duration of something: al término del partido.^[5]
3. A boundary stone (mojón); the line dividing states, provinces or districts.^[5]
4. The territory of a municipality (término municipal).^[5][1]
5. A fixed period of time; a deadline.^[5][1]
6. A word (palabra), especially one belonging to a profession or discipline: un término médico.^[5][1]
7. (usually in the plural) The manner of behaving or speaking;^[5][1] (in the plural) the conditions of an agreement.^[5][1]
8. An element with which a relation is set up, as in término de comparación.^[5]
9. A plane in which something is shown, as in en primer término “in the foreground”.^[5]

Word family

• terminacho
• terminal
• terminajo
• terminología

Related words

• terminación
• terminar
• determinar
• exterminar
• Latin terminus
• Portuguese termo

Usage notes

Set phrases include término medio “average; middle course”, por término medio “on average”, en último término “as a last resort” and llevar a término “to carry out”.^[5][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. término
3. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 471
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. término
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. término
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. terminus
7. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. término
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. terminus
9. ^ 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. término
10. ^ a b c 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. término
11. ^ a b 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, p. 3, 616
12. ^ Moreno-Fernández, Francisco (2018), Diccionario de anglicismos del español estadounidense (Informes del Observatorio 037-01/2018SP), Cambridge, Mass.: Instituto Cervantes at Harvard University, p. 88
13. ^ 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. término