NOTES ON THE HISTORY OF THE VOICE ATOM
Abstract
The word átomo has a long history: it was coined in Greek by Democritus to denominate the indivisible particles constituting matter, and then passed from Greek to Latin, and from Latin into Spanish. But the history of the word is somewhat more complex than this ‘voyage’ would appear to indicate. Certainly, it now no longer expresses its etymological meaning. And its historical evolution is more complicated than it seems, since its character as a scientific term has in effect transformed its meaning, and over its history, has left meanings in its wake that are no longer current. This study provides a detailed description of the word átomo from its origins in Spanish up to the C20. To this end, the oldest of texts are used as reference, with the support of the Corpus Diacrónico del Español (CORDE: The Diachronic Corpus of Spanish), and this information is contrasted with that in the most significant dictionaries in lexicographical history. We also take into account historical dictionaries from other languages, as well as texts not included within the CORDE, when the limitations of that corpus make such an approach advisable. Of additional and substantial support is the knowledge provided by historians of science. The result is an analysis of the history of átomo that aims to be of use to historical lexicography.Downloads
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