vitalidad

Forms

vitalidad f (plural vitalidades)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin vītālitās (“vital force, vitality”); it can also be read as from Spanish vital + -idad.^[2][1][3] Corominas lists it among the learned words beside vivo, after vital, which is recorded from about 1440.^[4][5] The same Latin word gave Portuguese vitalidade, Catalan vitalitat and French vitalité.^[6][7][1]

The Latin noun is formed from vītālis (“of life, vital”) with the suffix -tās;^[1][8] Pliny uses it of the life that lasts in the heart when the other organs have perished.^[1][8] vīta (“life”) goes back to Proto-Italic *gʷītā, and probably to a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃- (“to live”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first record is in Diego Mejía's Primera parte del Parnaso Antártico, printed in 1608 and written in Peru: Mejía added prose arguments and morals that seemed fitting for the understanding and the vitalidad of the reader.^[9] In 1646 Gracián uses it for the state of being alive, as against the exercise of life.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades defined the word as the activity or efficacy of things belonging to life.^[10] Terreros glossed it as life, movement and vital power, with Pliny's Latin sentence.^[11] The Academy narrowed the definition in 1843 to the activity of the vital faculties and added the quality of having life in 1869.^[12][13] Moliner and Vox describe the modern use: a great energy and drive to live or develop, said of organisms and also of people, societies, cultures and works of art.^[14][15]

Timeline

• c. 1440 – vital is first recorded.^[4][5]
• 1608 – first record of vitalidad, in Diego Mejía, Peru.^[9]
• 1646 – Gracián's El Discreto.^[9]
• 1716 – a sermon from Guatemala speaks of the inmost vitalidades.^[16]
• 1739 – Autoridades defines it.^[10]
• 1869 – the Academy adds “the quality of having life”.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy gives Latin vitalitas as its etymon.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality of having life.^[2]
2. vitality: the activity or strength of the vital faculties; energy, vigor: A sus ochenta años conserva una vitalidad admirable.^[2][14][1]

Related words

• vital
• vida
• vivo
• vitalicio
• Latin vīta

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. vitalidad
3. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 845
4. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 834
5. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. vivo
6. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. vitalidade
7. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. vitalitat
8. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. uītālitās
9. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. vitalidad
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 505
11. ^ 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, 813
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 748
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 798
14. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. vitalidad
15. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. vitalidad
16. ^ 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. vitalidad
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 1095