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TEMA

Latin Lemma

thema < Gk θέμα

Latin POS

N

Latin Meaning

"subject, topic, theme; disposition of heavenly bodies at a person's birth: a horoscope" L&S

Spanish

Spanish Lemma

tema

Spanish Variants

temas, thema, themas

Spanish POS

N

Spanish Morphologically related words

temática, temático, tematizar, tematización DLE

Ranking/frequency in Spanish

240 Davies 2017, 135 CDEWP

Spanish First attestation

Pues rrecta mente en ella conssisten las dos cosas prinçipales. por las quales fue bien ordenado & con verdat puesto el tema preasunto. (CORDE: Estéfano de Sevilla, Visita y consejo de médicos. Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid, MS. 18052, a 1400)

Spanish Historical frequency (per million words)

13C: 0.00 14C: 1.37 15C: 0.25 16C: 1.46 17C: 2.99 18C: 2.54 19C: 10.41 20C: 98.46 CDEGH
13C: 14.59 14C: 11.57 15C: 31.39 16C: 14.04 17C: 21.58 18C: 21.86 19C: 26.85 20C: 90.11 21C: 296.48 Enclave
- - - - - - - - 21C: 351.23 CORPESXXI
- - 1064-1500: 17.08 - 1501-1700: 20.44 1701-1800: 17.73 1801-1900: 33.82 1901-2005: 239.04 - CDH

(The statistics for CDEGH reflect only the aggregated frequencies of el tema and un tema in order to avoid forms of the verb temer.)

Spanish Semantic history

» "subject, proposition, especially that of a sermon or the text on which a sermon is based" 15C

Pues rrecta mente en ella conssisten las dos cosas prinçipales. por las quales fue bien ordenado & con verdat puesto el tema preasunto. (CORDE: Estéfano de Sevilla, Visita y consejo de médicos. Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid, MS. 18052, a 1400)

E acabado de dezir la Reina madre del Rey, levantóse don Sancho de Rojas, obispo de Palençia, e dixo vna como manera de predicaçión, e el su tema fué: "En caridad firme e no ynfintosa, en la palabra de la verdad, en la virtud de Dios". (CORDE: Anón., Crónica de Juan II de Castilla, 1406-1411)

» "obstinacy" 15C

No sé qué tema es ésta que ha tomado / de buscar siempre cuanto a mí me daña (CDEGH: Juan Boscán, Obra completa, 1490)

Many later technical meanings:

» "principal melody, melody on which variations are composed (music)"

» "central proposition, topic (logic)"

» "topic, what is being talked about (linguistics)"

» "morphological stem to which inflections are added (linguistics)"

» "situation of the stars and planets at a particular moment (astrology)"

Spanish Collocational history

In the meaning of "obstinacy" tema participates in idiomatic expressions such as tomar tema contra “to take against” and traer la gorra de tema “to wear one’s hat at a rakish angle”

Desde aquel día comencé a tomar tema contra esta gentecilla menuda, que nunca más me pudieron entrar de los dientes adentro. (CDEGH: Mateo Alemán, Guzmán de Alfarache, 1581)

Portuguese

Portuguese Lemma

tema

Portuguese Variants

temas

Portuguese POS

N

Portuguese Morphologically related words

temático (ADJ), temática (N), tematologia (N), tematológico (ADJ) Houaiss

Ranking/frequency in Portuguese

765 Davies & Preto-Bay 2008

Portuguese First attestation

E, emtrados em no capitulo, o fraire que hia por primçipall começou de pregar ferventemente e tomou por tema Parvulus natus est nobis, que quer dizer, moçinho he a nos naçido. (CDPGH: Crónica da Ordem dos Frades Menores, 1209-1285, 15C)

e Frey Gil Lobo, grande Letrado, fez ho Sermom com tema ao auto conforme (CDPGH: Rui de Pina (1440–1522), Crónica de D. Duarte)

Portuguese Historical frequency (per million words)

Not possible to establish on basis of CDPGH because of extensive homonymy with verb temer.

French

French Lemma

thème

French Variants

thèmes, theme, tesme, teme, theume, thieume, thieusme, tume

French POS

N

French Morphologically related words

thématique

Ranking/frequency in French

1720 Lonsdale & Le Bras 2009

French First attestation

Por plus enforcier l'anatesme, / Quant il aura finé son tesme, / Li met où poing ung ardant cierge / Qui ne fu pas de cire vierge. (TLF: Jean de Meun, Roman de la Rose, ll.20189-92, 1269-78)

French Historical frequency (per million words)

13C: 0 14C: 0 15C: 0 16C: 3 17C: 0 18C: 0 19C: 8 20C: 25 21C: 17 FRANTEXT

French Semantic history

» "subject, proposition, especially that of a sermon or the text on which a sermon is based" from 13C

Et pour venirà sa matiere, prant pour theme: Subtrahate vos abomni fratre ambulante inordinate, IJe ad Thessalonic.ultimo. (FRANTEXT: Nicolas de Baye, Journal, 1, 1400)

Many later technical meanings:

» "principal melody, melody on which variations are composed (music)"

» "central proposition, topic (logic)"

» "topic, what is being talked about (linguistics)"

» "morphological stem to which inflections are added (linguistics)"

» "situation of the stars and planets at a particular moment (astrology)"

Italian

Italian Lemma

tema

Italian Variants

temi, thema

Italian POS

N

Italian Morphologically related words

tematica (N), tematico (ADJ) Zingarelli

Ranking/frequency in Italian

1017 J&T

Italian First attestation

dicendo solamente la tema del testo, sopra 'l quale il caso è cotale (OVI: Brunetto Latini, Rettorica, c. 1260-61)

Italian Semantic history

» "subject, proposition, especially that of a sermon or the text on which a sermon is based" from 13C

Later technical meanings:

» "principal melody, melody on which variations are composed (music)"

» "central proposition, topic (logic)"

» "topic, what is being talked about (linguistics)"

» "morphological stem to which inflections are added (linguistics)"

» "essay, composition (as school exercise)"

English

English Lemma

theme

English Variants

theam, teme

English POS

N

English Morphologically related words

thematic, thematically, theme (verb, now mostly in past participle/adjective themed), themeless

English First attestation

Crist..toke þe same word for his teme þat Baptist toke whanne he prechide. (OED: Eng. Wycliffite Serm. in Sel. Wks. I. 306, c.1380)

English Semantic history

» "subject, proposition, especially that of a sermon or the text on which a sermon is based" from 14C

My theme [teeme, teme, teem, tyme] is alwey oon and euere was Radix malorum est Cupiditas. (OED: G. Chaucer, Pardoner's Prol. 5, c1386)

» "reason, cause" 16C-19C

Ham. Why, I will fight with him vpon this theame... Quee. O my sonne, what theame? Ham. I loued Ophelia... (OED: W. Shakespeare, Hamlet v. i. 263, 1604)

Many later technical meanings:

» "principal melody, melody on which variations are composed (music)" from 16C

» "central proposition, topic (logic)"

» "topic, what is being talked about (linguistics)"

» "morphological stem to which inflections are added (linguistics)" from 16C

» "situation of the stars and planets at a particular moment (astrology)" from 17C

Cultural transmission

Thema seems to have been familiar in Medieval Latin, where it developed its meanings of "subject or text of a sermon" and "logical proposition", the initial meanings of the borrowing in the vernaculars, suggesting common adaptation. Later technical meanings also suggest a common usage within western European cultural communities. The collocations noted in modern English are sometimes calqued into other languages, with, for example, Sp. parque temático overtaking parque de atracciones in frequency from 2000 onwards (Google ngram viewer). It is not clear that the secondary Lat. meaning of "disposition of heavenly bodies at a person's birth: a horoscope" was intially paralleled; this may have been a later restitution. All other meanings of tema and its congeners are transparently related. though sometimes languages show idiosyncratic individual developments: this is the case of Sp. "obstinacy" and Fr. "reason, cause", which appear not to be paralleled elsewhere, and have become obsolete. French and Italian use the word in the sense of "essay", and in French this has developed the even more specific meaning of "translation from one's native language into a foreign language". Treated most commonly as masculine in Romance, though there are some examples of feminine.

Languages

References