terreno

Forms

terreno (feminine terrena, masculine plural terrenos, feminine plural terrenas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin terrēnus (“of earth, earthly”), the adjective of terra (“earth”); the noun continues its neuter used as a noun, terrēnum (“land, ground”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} Berceo uses it with a variant terreño, which the Laws of the Moors of the 14th and 15th centuries also have for “land, port”.^[2]

The same word is Italian terreno, Portuguese terreno, Catalan terreny and French terrain, whose ending was replaced by another suffix.^[2][6] Galician has terreo and tarreo, with the loss of /n/ between vowels, and Asturian terrenu;^[7][8] García de Diego also records tarreno in Leonese and Navarrese.^[2][7][8] Nascentes takes the Portuguese form for a learned word.^[9]

The Latin adjective is formed with the suffix -ēnus from the noun.^[10][5] Wiktionary suggests that it may continue a Proto-Italic adjective *terzeznos, from the root Proto-Indo-European *ters- (“dry”), or that it was formed from a locative of the noun.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Berceo (1220–1250), with the variant terreño.^[2][3] In the prose of Alfonso X the adjective means “earthy, made of earth” (the Lapidario says a stone is terrena e pedrenna in its make-up) and the noun means “dry land”, as when Moses and his people reached land from the Red Sea, arribaron … a terrenno.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Covarrubias (1611) knew only the adjective, “of the earth, as opposed to heavenly”.^[12] Autoridades (1739) gives the noun “site or space of land” and the adjective, used in moral writing for worldly things.^[13] The Academy's dictionary of 1817 adds the phrase ganar terreno “to gain ground, make progress”.^[14] The edition of 1884 adds the figurative “field or sphere of action” and the geological sense, a set of rocks of the same origin or age.^[15] The current dictionary also has the subject or order of ideas under discussion and, in sport, a pitch or field.^[4][16]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – first record, in Berceo.^[2][3]
• 1250–1279 – the adjective “earthy” in Alfonso X's Lapidario.^[11]
• 1272–1275 – the noun “dry land” in the General estoria.^[11]
• 1548 – first record in the Americas: at Santo Domingo, the land the natives called sabana.^[17]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines only the adjective.^[12]
• 1739 – Autoridades gives the noun “space of land”.^[13]
• 1817 – the phrase ganar terreno in the Academy's dictionary.^[14]
• 1884 – the figurative “sphere of action” and the geological sense.^[15]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to the earth.^[4][1]
2. Earthly, worldly, as opposed to heavenly: los bienes terrenos.^[4][18]

Noun

1. A piece of land; a plot: Han comprado un terreno a las afueras.^[4][18]
2. The ground, the surface of the land not covered by the sea.^[4][1]
3. The field or sphere in which the nature or qualities of a person or thing can best show themselves.^[4]
4. The subject or order of ideas being discussed.^[4]
5. (sport) A pitch or ground marked out for a game.^[16][1]
6. (geology) A set of rocks with a common origin or of the same age.^[15][4]

Related words

• terrenal
• tierra
• terrestre
• territorio
• French terrain

Usage notes

Phrases include ganar terreno “to gain ground”, sobre el terreno “on the spot” and terreno abonado, circumstances in which something is likely to happen.^[4][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 488
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. tierra
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. terreno
5. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 680
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. terrain
7. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. terrenus
8. ^ a b Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. terrenu
9. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. terreno
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. terrēnus
11. ^ 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. terreno
12. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1326
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 259
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 839
15. ^ 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. 1020
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. terreno
17. ^ 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. terreno
18. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. terreno