título

Forms

título m (plural títulos)^[1] Berceo also has the form títol in the Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos; the DEMel lists títolo beside título.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin titulus (“inscription; title of a book; label, notice; title of honour”).^[4][5][6][1] Its origin in Latin is unknown: Wiktionary and Bénaben mention a possible Etruscan source.^[7][8] The Latin word first meant a placard or tablet with a notice, such as the boards carried in triumphs with the names of captured towns, then the text written on it.^[9][8][10]

The same Latin word, by a semi-learned route through Catalan title or Old Occitan tille, gave Spanish tilde, recorded in 1433 in Enrique de Villena: Corominas shows that the final ⟨-e⟩ rules out direct descent from Latin.^[4][5] Learned or semi-learned forms of the Latin word are also Italian titolo, French titre (from Old French title) and Portuguese título.^[11][10][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas found the word first in Berceo, about 1220–50.^[4][5] In the CDH, Berceo's Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos (c. 1236, in a late-13th-century copy) has the form títol, of the boy's schooling (apriso fasta'l títol “he learned as far as the títol”), and his Duelo de la Virgen (in an 18th-century copy) uses título of the inscription on the cross, written en lengua ebrea e latina, en griego la tercera “in Hebrew and Latin, Greek the third”.^[2] A tytulo of 1229 in the CDH is a Latin charter.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The Libro de Apolonio (c. 1240) uses it of a notice written on a door, Alfonsine legal prose of a chapter of a law, and the Estoria de España of the headings of a history; the General estoria already has the sense “rank, dignity”.^[2][13] Nebrija (c. 1495) gives Latin index and inscriptio for the title of a book.^[14] Cervantes uses it of a lady's title, of noble rank and of the papers of an officer of the Holy Brotherhood.^[15]

The phrase a título de “on the pretext of” is in Lope de Vega;^[16] Baralt (1855) thought ¿a qué título? a Gallicism but found it in good writers.^[16] In 1817 the Academy listed the noble dignity of count or marquis, the document proving a right, and the certificate needed for an office.^[17] Modern senses include a university degree, a security or bond, and in chemistry the strength of a solution.^[6][18][19]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – Berceo, the first record Corominas gives.^[4][5]
• c. 1240 – the Libro de Apolonio uses it of an inscription on a door.^[2]
• 1270–1284 – the Estoria de España uses it of the headings of a history.^[13]
• 1433 – the semi-learned doublet tilde appears in Villena.^[4]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin equivalents for the title of a book.^[14]
• 1525 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico City, of a title to a building plot.^[20]
• 1817 – the Academy lists the noble dignity and the legal document.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. A title: the word or phrase that names a work or one of the parts or divisions of a text.^[6][1]
2. A name or distinction by which someone is known for their qualities or deeds.^[6]
3. A cause, reason or pretext: a título de ejemplo.^[6][16]
4. A document that entitles someone to hold an office or practise a profession; a degree or diploma.^[6][18]
5. A rank of nobility granted by the king, such as that of count, marquis or duke; also the person who holds it.^[6][1]
6. Each of the main parts into which a law or a code is divided.^[6][13]
7. (finance) A document representing public debt or a commercial security.^[6]
8. (law) The act, contract or document that is the ground for acquiring property or another right.^[6]
9. (chemistry) The measured strength of a solution.^[6][19]

Word family

• titular
• intitular

Related words

• subtítulo
• tilde
• Latin titulus

Usage notes

The legal phrase justo título is a title legally sufficient to transfer property.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE
3. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock
4. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 512
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. título
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. título
7. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. titulus
8. ^ a b Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. titre
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
13. ^ 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. título
14. ^ a b 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
15. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. 1091
16. ^ a b c Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado, p. 691
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 846
18. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. título
19. ^ a b Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. título
20. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies