volatilidad

Forms

volatilidad f (plural volatilidades)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish volátil + -idad;^[2][3] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of the adjective, and Echegaray derives the noun from the adjective.^[2][3] The adjective is from Latin volātilis (“flying”), recorded in Spanish from about 1450.^[4][5]

Autoridades (1739) gave New Latin volatilitas as its Latin equivalent;^[6][7] Terreros noted that this Latin word is not found in good Latinity, and gave French volatilité beside it.^[6][7] The Latin adjective belongs to volō (“to fly”), the source of Spanish volar.^[4][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Enrique de Villena's glosses on his translation of the Aeneid (1427–1428, in a copy of 1442), in alchemical language: la rebellión significa su volatilidat e infixión “the rebellion signifies its volatility and lack of fixity”, of a substance that fire brings to fixity.^[9] The next CDH records come three centuries later, in Feijoo (1728), on the volatility of iron.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed in the language of chemistry: Autoridades (1739) defined it as the quality of spirits that evaporate easily in chemical operations, and the Academy's editions from 1843 to 1899 marked it as a chemical term.^[6][10][11] In 1792 a Lima periodical used it of bodies driven off by heat.^[12] The financial sense, the instability of market prices, is recorded in Mexico from 1986 and is now the DLE's second sense; the first, the quality of being volatile, is also used figuratively.^[12][13][14]

Timeline

• 1427–1428 – Villena's volatilidat, in an alchemical gloss (copy of 1442).^[9]
• 1728 – Feijoo writes of the volatilidad of iron.^[9]
• 1739 – Autoridades defines it as a term of chemistry.^[6]
• 1792 – first record in the Americas, in Lima.^[12]
• 1986 – volatilidad del mercado in Mexico, the financial sense.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. volatility: the quality of being volátil, above all of a liquid that turns readily into vapour; also figurative.^[13][1][14]
2. (economics) The instability of prices in financial markets: La volatilidad de la bolsa asustó a los inversores.^[13][14]

Related words

• volátil
• volatilizar
• volar
• Latin volātilis

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 836
3. ^ a b Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 733
4. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. volar
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. volátil
6. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 516
7. ^ 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, 819
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
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. volatilidad
10. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 750
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 1028
12. ^ a b c d 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. volatilidad
13. ^ 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. volatilidad
14. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. volatilidad