terapia

Forms

terapia f (plural terapias)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek θεραπεία (therapeía, “service; medical treatment”).^[2][1][3] The Greek noun is formed from θεραπεύω (therapeúō, “to heal”) with the suffix -ία (-ía).^[1] In Greek it meant service and attendance of many kinds, paid to the gods or to parents as well as to the sick.^[4] In the 1880s Echegaray and Barcia compared French thérapie.^[5][6]

The related terapéutica was taken earlier, in 1555, from Late Latin therapeutica (“medical treatises”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first hit in the CDH is the glossary of Juan Alonso y de los Ruyzes de Fontecha's Diez privilegios para mujeres preñadas (1606), which explains terapia as cure, remedy and medicine.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In the 1880s Echegaray and Barcia entered terapia as a synonym of terapéutica used by some authors.^[5][6] In a medical book of 1912 the word glosses the second part of opoterapia, “treatment”, and Moliner notes that it is used above all as the last element of compounds such as hidroterapia and radioterapia.^[8][3] The CDH has only a handful of hits before the 1960s, when the psychological sense spreads; the first record from the Americas is from Mexico City in 1970.^[8][9]

The DLE gives terapia intensiva for an intensive care unit in Argentina, Cuba and Uruguay.^[2] In El Salvador and Nicaragua young people use terapia for a talk meant to win someone over.^[10] The DTME notes that some reject the word for psychotherapy or physiotherapy as imprecise.^[11]

Timeline

• 1606 – Fontecha's glossary explains terapia as cure and remedy.^[8]
• 1880s – Echegaray and Barcia record it as a synonym of terapéutica.^[5][6]
• 1912 – a medical book explains opoterapia through terapia, “treatment”.^[8]
• 1970 – the first record from the Americas, in Mexico City.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. treatment of a disease or of any other disorder: una terapia contra el cáncer.^[2][1]
2. therapy: treatment for psychological problems: terapia de pareja.^[2][1]
3. terapia intensiva (Argentina, Cuba, Uruguay) An intensive care unit.^[2]
4. (El Salvador, Nicaragua, youth slang) A talk meant to persuade someone.^[10]

Word family

• antibioticoterapia
• aromaterapia
• braquiterapia
• ciberterapia
• crioterapia
• electroterapia
• fangoterapia
• farmacoterapia
• fisioterapia
• fitoterapia
• fluidoterapia
• fototerapia
• hemoterapia
• hidroterapia
• inmunoterapia

Related words

• terapeuta
• terapéutico

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. terapia
3. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. terapia
4. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto
6. ^ a b c Barcia, Roque (1880–1883), Primer diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Tipográfico de Álvarez Hermanos
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 466
8. ^ 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
9. ^ 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. terapia
10. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. terapia
11. ^ Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. terapia