tren

Forms

tren m (plural trenes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French train, a noun the French formed from the verb traîner (“to drag, pull”).^[2][3][4][1] Corominas dates the borrowing to the middle of the 17th century, on the evidence of Autoridades.^[5][6]

Old French train named a file of animals made to travel together.^[3] The verb continues Vulgar Latin *tragināre (“to drag”), from *tragere, a variant of Latin trahō (“to pull, drag”).^[3][4] The same Vulgar Latin verb is behind trajinar, taken from Catalan traginar, and the native traína “dragnet”.^[6][5] trineo “sledge” is from the French diminutive traîneau, and entrenar adapts the English verb train through French entraîner.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Autoridades defines the word as the equipment and provisions needed for a journey or a military campaign, with the example Para llevar mas trén, y ostentación, le pedí a un Capitan conocido mio una carreta prestada “to travel with more baggage and show, I borrowed a cart from a captain I knew”, and gives a second sense, show or pomp in one's person or household.^[7] The first record from the Americas, Mexico City in 1674, uses it for an army's baggage, left to the enemy as booty.^[8] The medieval hits of the CDH under this lemma are other words, such as trene in a translation of Plutarch.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Terreros, in the 18th century, used the word for the running gear of a coach (wheels, body, pole), for a household with its furniture and for the outfit of a journey or a hunt, giving French train as the equivalent.^[10] The Academy listed tren de artillería, the artillery of an army with all that is needed to serve and carry it, in 1817.^[11]

The railway sense entered the Academy's dictionary in 1869, as a series of linked carriages that carry passengers and goods on the railways, drawn by steam, animals or another motor, together with tren correo, tren expreso and other kinds.^[12] The 1884 edition added the etymology “Del fr. train”.^[13] In the DLE the railway train is now the first sense, followed by a set of machines used for one operation, the pace at which something is done, and the old senses of pomp and of preparations for a journey, the last marked as obsolete.^[2]

In Mexico the word also means a tramway, and in Guatemala bustle or hurry; in Cuban sugar mills it named the apparatus in which the cane juice was boiled.^[14][15][16] In the Canaries it was recorded in 1924 for a man's suit of clothes.^[17] The word passed into Tagalog as tren.^[1]

Timeline

• mid-17th century – first records, in the sense of baggage and equipment for a journey.^[5][6]
• 1674 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico City.^[8]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades gives the senses “equipment for a journey or campaign” and “show, pomp”.^[7]
• 1786–1793 – Terreros applies it to the running gear of a coach, with French train as the equivalent.^[10]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary lists tren de artillería.^[11]
• 1869 – the railway sense enters the Academy's dictionary.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology “Del fr. train”.^[13]
• 1924 – the sense “suit of clothes” is recorded in Gran Canaria.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. A train: a means of transport running on rails, made up of one or more carriages drawn by a locomotive: Cogimos el tren de las siete.^[2][1]
2. A set of machines, instruments and tools used together for one operation or service: un tren de lavado.^[2][18]
3. The pace at which something is done, especially a fast one: No aguanto este tren de trabajo.^[2]
4. (little used) Display or luxury in one's way of living.^[2][1]
5. (obsolete) The equipment and provisions prepared for a journey or expedition.^[2][7]
6. (Mexico) A tram (tranvía).^[14][19]
7. (Guatemala) Bustle, hurry.^[15]

Word family

• trencito

Related words

• trajinar
• trineo
• entrenar
• traer
• French train

Usage notes

Common phrases include tren de vida “way of life, standard of living”, tren de aterrizaje “landing gear”, a todo tren “in great style; at full speed” and the colloquial estar como un tren “to be very attractive”.^[18][1] Perder el tren is used for missing the last chance of something.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. tren
3. ^ a b c Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. tren
4. ^ a b Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. tren
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 575
6. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. trajinar
7. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 349
8. ^ 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. tren
9. ^ Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. tren
10. ^ a b Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 3, 699
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 862
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 765
13. ^ 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. 1048
14. ^ 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. tren
15. ^ a b Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 792
16. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1611
17. ^ a b 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. tren
18. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. tren
19. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. tren