visionario

Forms

visionario (feminine visionaria, masculine plural visionarios, feminine plural visionarias)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish visión + -ario.^[2][3][1] Corominas lists it among the learned derivatives in the article on ver, beside visión, which is from Latin visio (“sight, vision”).^[4][5] Echegaray and Barcia compare Catalan visionari, French visionnaire and Italian visionario.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as one who feigns revelations or visions, with the Latin equivalent falsa videns.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Terreros glossed it as one who has fanciful, extravagant visions or feigns them, and gave the French visionnaire.^[9] From 1817 the Academy defined it as a person whose exalted imagination makes him picture and readily believe chimeras, a definition the DLE keeps; the 1884 edition gave the etymology from visión and noted its use as a noun.^[10][11][2] In the Americas it is recorded from 1795 in Bogotá, and in 1823 in Mexico as a term of contempt, un visionario estúpido.^[12]

By the Academy's 2001 edition the word had gained a positive sense, a person ahead of his time who can see the future.^[13][2] Vox also records it of visions of the supernatural and of drugs or mushrooms that cause hallucinations.^[14]

Timeline

• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines one who feigns revelations or visions.^[8]
• 1786–1793 – Terreros adds one who has fanciful visions.^[9]
• 1795 – first record in the Americas, in Bogotá.^[12]
• 1817 – the Academy defines it by an exalted imagination that believes in chimeras.^[10]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from visión and the use as a noun.^[11]
• 2001 – the Academy adds the sense “ahead of one's time”.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a person, whose exalted imagination makes him believe in chimeras; also as a noun.^[2][15]
2. Ahead of one's time, having a vision of the future; also as a noun: Aquel arquitecto fue un visionario.^[2][14]
3. Having, or believing one has, supernatural visions or revelations.^[14]
4. Of a substance, causing hallucinations.^[14]

Noun

1. A visionary.^[1]

Related words

• visión
• ver
• visible

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. visionario
3. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. visionario
4. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ver
5. ^ 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. visión
6. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 722
7. ^ Barcia, Roque (1880–1883), Primer diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Tipográfico de Álvarez Hermanos, p. 534
8. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 498
9. ^ 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, 810
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 895
11. ^ 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. 1093
12. ^ 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. visionario
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. visionario
14. ^ a b c d Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. visionario
15. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. visionario