timón

Forms

timón m (plural timones)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin tīmō (“pole of a cart or plough”), a variant of Latin tēmō (“pole or yoke-beam of a cart or plough”).^[2][3][1] The DLE derives the Spanish word directly from the classical form.^[4] Corominas considers the variant with /i/ unrecorded in Latin, but old and probably already present in Vulgar Latin, since nearly all the Romance forms presuppose it.^[2][3] According to the DHLF, it is attested from about 500, among other writers in Gregory of Tours.^[5] Medieval Latin used temo and timo for the tiller or helm of a ship.^[6]

The same word is Catalan timó, Occitan timon, French timon, Italian timone and Sardinian timone, and in all of them it also means the tiller or rudder.^[7][2] The classical vowel survives in Galician temón and Portuguese temão, beside timão.^[2][8] The variant with /i/ is hard to explain: Corominas rejects a spread from Tuscan (Gamillscheg), a Celtic pronunciation (Mohl) and a cross with a supposed Celtic word behind French limon (Wartburg). He suggests instead that Proto-Italic *téksmo developed in two ways, as Latin pinna (“feather”) did beside penna.^[2]

The origin of the Latin word is disputed.^[9] Because the Germanic word for a pole, Old High German dīhsala, Old English þīxl and Old Norse þísl, goes back to Proto-Germanic *þenχslō-, Sommer reconstructed *tenksmō for Latin; others posit *tensmō.^[9] The root may be Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch”), *tens- (“to pull”) or *tengʰ- (“to pull”), and de Vaan considers the question impossible to settle.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record in the CDH is the Fuero de Alcalá (c. 1235), where it is part of a plough: Qui furtare madera d'aradro peche por el timón I moravidí “whoever steals wood from a plough shall pay one maravedí for the beam”.^[10] Corominas dates it from the middle of the 13th century, in the Libro de Apolonio, where it is the pole of a cart: dos a dos enlazadas, tíralas un timón “linked two by two, a pole draws them”, said of the four wheels.^[2][3][10]

Semantic evolution

From the pole of a cart or plough the word passed by comparison to the rudder of a ship, about 1260;^[3][2] Corominas finds this sense already in the Partidas of Alfonso X.^[3][2] In the Cuento de Otas de Roma (c. 1300–1325) a man seizes the timón to steer the ship in a storm.^[10] A Murcian document of 1488 uses it simply for a pole or stick.^[2] Nebrija kept the two senses apart: the timón of a cart or plough was Latin temo, the timón of a rudder clavus.^[11][2] Both senses have been in general use at all periods.^[2]

Autoridades recorded the figurative sense, the post or person on whom the government of something depends, with a quotation from Saavedra Fajardo.^[12] By 1899 the Academy also defined it as the stick of a rocket, which balances it and gives it direction.^[13] Today it also names the corresponding part of submarines and aircraft and the wheel with which the rudder is worked.^[4] In Colombia, Cuba and Honduras it means the steering wheel of a car, and in several countries of Central America and the Caribbean also the handlebar.^[4][14][15] In Honduras it is also the balancing pole of tightrope walkers.^[14] In the Canaries, documents from 1847 on use it for the straight trunk of a young pine.^[16]

Timeline

• c. 1235 – the Fuero de Alcalá fines the theft of a plough's timón.^[10]
• c. 1240 – the Libro de Apolonio uses it for the pole of a cart (Corominas's first record).^[2][10]
• c. 1260 – first use for the rudder of a ship.^[3]
• 1488 – a Murcian document uses it for a pole or stick.^[2]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija distinguishes the timón of a cart or plough from that of a ship.^[11]
• 1512 – first record in the Americas, in Puerto Rico: fittings of rudders for brigantines.^[17]
• 1527 – timonel “helmsman”, taken from Catalan timoner.^[2][3]
• 1696 – first record of timonera.^[2][3]
• 1899 – the Academy defines the stick of a rocket as a timón.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. The rudder: the flat movable piece at the stern of a ship that controls its direction.^[4][1]
2. A similar part of a submarine, aircraft or other craft.^[4]
3. The helm: the wheel or other device with which the pilot works the rudder: El capitán no soltó el timón en toda la noche.^[4][1]
4. The ploughbeam: the straight pole running forward from the body of a plough, to which the team is hitched.^[4][1]
5. The pole or drawbar of a cart.^[4][1]
6. The stick of a rocket, which balances it and keeps it on course.^[4]
7. (figurative) The direction or running of a business or affair: Desde enero es su hija quien lleva el timón del taller.^[4]
8. (Colombia, Cuba, Honduras) The steering wheel of a car.^[4][1][14]

Word family

• timonel
• timonera
• timonear
• timonazo
• timonero

Related words

• artimón
• Latin tēmō
• Catalan timó
• French timon

Usage notes

Timón de profundidad is the elevator of an aircraft or submarine, which controls its direction in the vertical plane.^[4] Golpe de timón is a sudden change of course.^[15][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 492
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. timón
4. ^ 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. timón
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. temo
8. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. temão
9. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ 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
11. ^ 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
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. timón
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 961
14. ^ a b c Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. timón
15. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. timón
16. ^ Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. timón
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. timón