techo

Forms

techo m (plural techos)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin tēctum (“roof; dwelling”), the neuter past participle of tegō (“to cover, hide, protect”) used as a noun.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Corominas notes that it has been in general use at all periods and survives in all the western Romance languages except Catalan.^[2] The same Latin word is Portuguese teto, Galician teito, Asturian techu, Occitan tech, French toit and Italian tetto.^[6][7][1][8] Lanchetas compares the parallel of lectus and lecho.^[9]

De Vaan lists the noun, “roof, ceiling, dwelling”, among the derivatives of the verb, beside tēgula (“roof tile”) and toga.^[10] The verb belongs to the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- (“to cover”), which also gave Ancient Greek στέγω (stégō, “to cover”).^[11] Wiktionary compares the Greek noun τέγος (tégos, “roof; covered room”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record in the CDH is in Almerich's Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy), on those que adoraron sobre los techos al fonsado de los cielos “who worshipped the host of heaven on the roofs”.^[12] Corominas's first record is a charter of 1205 in Oelschläger's list, then Berceo.^[2] The 13th-century fueros of Cáceres and Usagre have sub tecto, but in Latin.^[12]

Semantic evolution

Berceo uses the word for the roof under which a sick man lies, and Lanchetas glosses it in his works as “house, dwelling”.^[12][9] The riddle of the Libro de Apolonio has four sisters who live sso vn techo “under one roof”, and in the Picatrix of Alfonso X it is the inner upper part of a building.^[12][13] Nebrija gave tejado o techo with Latin tectum, and a techo of coffered work with laquear and lacunar.^[14]

The Diccionario de Autoridades defined it as the inner upper part of a building that covers and closes it, figuratively a house or dwelling, by extension one's homeland (el patrio techo), and in the cant of germanía a hat, after Juan Hidalgo.^[15][16] The Academy's dictionary still had “hat” in 1884 but not in 1899.^[17][18] Modern Spanish uses techo for the whole roof as well as the ceiling, and for an upper limit, as in an electoral ceiling, and the maximum altitude of an aircraft.^[4][19] In Leonese techo is a thatched roof as opposed to a tiled one, and Asturian teitu names a stone hut with a roof of broom or straw.^[20][21] In Cuba it is popular for the hair of the head.^[22]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – the Fazienda de Ultra Mar has techos “roofs”.^[12]
• 1205 – a charter in Oelschläger's list, Corominas's first record.^[2][3]
• c. 1236 – Berceo's Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos.^[12]
• 1256 – the Picatrix of Alfonso X.^[13]
• 1490 – first records of techar and techumbre.^[3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives tejado o techo as Latin tectum.^[14]
• 1571 – the first record from the Americas, in Mexico City: techo de casa.^[23]
• 1609 – Juan Hidalgo records techo “hat” in the cant of germanía.^[16]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from Latin tectum.^[24]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades adds the senses “house” and “homeland”.^[15]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology from Latin.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. roof: the upper part of a building, structure or vehicle that covers and closes it.^[4][1]
2. ceiling: the surface that closes a room or covered space at the top.^[4][1]
3. A house, home or dwelling: Vivimos bajo el mismo techo.^[4][5]
4. The highest point or limit that a matter, negotiation or process can reach.^[4][19]
5. (aeronautics) The maximum altitude an aircraft can reach.^[4]
6. (mining) The ground lying above a seam or vein.^[4]

Word family

• techar
• techumbre
• techado
• destechar

Related words

• teja
• tejado
• proteger
• tegumento
• Latin tēctum
• Portuguese teto

Usage notes

Falso techo is a false ceiling below the real one, and techo de nubes in meteorology the height of the base of the lowest cloud layer.^[4] Other phrases are techo de cristal “glass ceiling” and sin techo “homeless”.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 448
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. techo
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. techo
5. ^ a b Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. techo
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. tectum
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. tectum
8. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. techu
9. ^ a b Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 741
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. toit
12. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. techo
13. ^ a b 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. techo
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, p. s.v. techo
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 234
16. ^ a b Hidalgo, Juan (1609), Romances de germanía de varios autores, con el vocabulario por la orden del a.b.c. para declaración de sus términos y lengua, Barcelona: Sebastián de Cormellas (ed. Madrid 1779), p. 201
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 1012
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 948
19. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. techo
20. ^ Le Men Loyer, Janick (2002–2012), Léxico del leonés actual, 4 vols., León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación San Isidoro; electronic version, Universidad de León, p. s.v. techo
21. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. teitu
22. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. techo
23. ^ 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. techo
24. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1322