uniformidad

Forms

uniformidad f (plural uniformidades)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin ūniformitās (“uniformity”), a post-classical noun from ūniformis (“uniform”).^[2][1][3] The adjective is a compound of ūnus (“one”) and forma (“form”), and Corominas lists the noun beside uniforme among the compounds of forma.^[4] Barcia derived the noun from the Spanish adjective instead.^[5] The same Latin noun is the source of Italian uniformità, French uniformité and Catalan uniformitat.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Enrique de Villena's translation of the Aeneid (1427–1428, in a copy of 1442), in the form uniformidat: non distinguiendo cuáles eran griegos e cuáles troyanos por la uniformidat de las armas “not telling which were Greeks and which Trojans, because their arms were alike”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In the 15th century the word belonged to learned prose: Pero Díaz de Toledo's translation of Plato's Phaedo (1446–1447) speaks of the uniformity of the heavens, and Nebrija used it in his Gramática castellana (1492) and gave it in his Vocabulario (c. 1495) with Latin uniformitas.^[7] In the Americas it is recorded from 1552, in La Paz, in the phrase de uniformidad “unanimously”.^[8] Autoridades (1739) gave two senses, likeness or equality of one thing with another, and concord of opinions or minds.^[9] The Academy's 1899 edition reduced the definition to “quality of being uniform”, which the DLE keeps.^[10][2]

Timeline

• 1427–1428 – first record, uniformidat, in Villena's translation of the Aeneid.^[7]
• 1446–1447 – Pero Díaz de Toledo's translation of the Phaedo.^[7]
• 1492 – Nebrija's Gramática castellana.^[7]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija's Vocabulario glosses it with Latin uniformitas.^[7]
• 1552 – first record from the Americas, in La Paz.^[8]
• 1739 – Autoridades gives the senses “likeness” and “concord”.^[9]
• 1899 – the Academy defines it as the quality of being uniform.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. uniformity, the quality of being uniforme; sameness of the parts or members of a whole: La uniformidad de las fachadas daba al barrio un aire triste.^[2][11][1]
2. Agreement or concord of opinions or feelings: En la reunión no hubo uniformidad de criterios.^[9][12]

Related words

• uniforme
• uniformar
• unificar
• Latin ūniformis

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. uniformidad
3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. uniformitas
4. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 932
5. ^ Barcia, Roque (1880–1883), Primer diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Tipográfico de Álvarez Hermanos, p. 295
6. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 628
7. ^ 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. uniformidad
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. uniformidad
9. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 390
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 996
11. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. uniformidad
12. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. uniformidad