The attitude of the Real Academia Española towards the insertion of etymological information in its dictionary

Abstract

The goal of this article is to analyze the attitude of the Real Academia Española towards the insertion of etymological information in its dictionary. The article examines the etymological ideas of the academic institution contained in the «Discurso proemial sobre las etimologías» of the Diccionario de Autoridades, and in the forewords of the academic dictionaries published since the 18th century. This analysis reveals the different tendencies that have guided the etymological work, determined, at first, by the situation of the Castilian language during the Enlightenment, and, later, by the methodological changes derived from the scientific consideration of the etymological practice.