Purpose

When the RAE was founded in 1713, one of its primary objectives was to compile an authoritative Spanish dictionary. Its first statutes said in 1715 that its purpose was to:^[4]: 125

cultivate and stabilise the purity and elegance of the Castilian language, removing all the errors in words, modes of speech, and syntax that have been introduced by ignorance, vain affectation, carelessness, and the excessive freedom to innovate. It will be used to distinguish foreign words, phrases and constructions from our own, the outdated from the current, the low and rustic from the courtly and elevated, burlesque from seriousness, and, finally, the accurate from the inaccurate.^[6]

The RAE's original motto of limpia, fija y da esplendor (It cleans, stabilises, and gives splendour [to the language]) was in more recent times modified to unifica, limpia y fija (it unifies, cleans, and stabilises).^[7] In 1995 it was still expected to "establish and spread the criteria of propriety and correctness".^{[4]: 126–127 [8]}

Despite this policy, in the 21st century the Academy has responded to criticism about definitions considered to be derogatory or racist such as trapacero ("swindler") for gitano ("gypsy") by saying that the dictionary tries to reflect actual usage, and that nothing is changed by removing the definition from the dictionary, education must be used to eradicate inappropriate usages.^[9] However, after refusing to change some definitions, they were ultimately changed. See the section Criticism below for examples.

Editions

The first dictionary was the six-volume Diccionario de Autoridades (Dictionary of Authorities) from 1726 to 1739. Based on that work, an abridged version was published in 1780, the full title of which was Diccionario de la lengua castellana compuesto por la Real Academia Española, reducido á un tomo para su más fácil uso (Dictionary of the Castilian tongue composed by the Royal Spanish Academy, reduced to one volume for its easier use). According to its prologue, the dictionary was published for general public access during the long time between the publishing of the first and second editions of the exhaustive Diccionario de Autoridades, thus offering a cheaper reference book. By the time the second edition was published, it had become the principal dictionary, superseding its ancestor.

The fourth edition of the dictionary (1803) introduced the digraphs "ch" (che) and "ll" (elle) to the Spanish alphabet as separate, discrete letters. Entries starting with "ch" were placed after all the "c" entries (so czarda appeared before chacal), and "ll" entries after "l". Also in 1803, the letter "x" was replaced with "j" when it had the same pronunciation as "j", and the circumflex accent (^) was eliminated. In 1994, it was decided at the 10th Congress of the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language to use the universal Latin alphabet, which does not include "ch" and "ll" as single letters.^[10]

The earliest editions were more extensive: they included Latin translations of the entry, in some cases gave usage examples (especially in popular phrases), and summarized the word's etymology; contemporary editions do so concisely. The earliest editions had "x" entries that no longer appear individually.

Historically, the decision to add, modify, or delete words from the dictionary has been made by the RAE, in consultation with other language authorities (especially in Latin America) when there was an uncertainty. This process continued between 1780 and 1992, but, since the 1992 edition, RAE committees, the Instituto de Lexicografía, and the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language—which specifically deals with American vocabulary—collaborate in producing the Dictionary of the Spanish Language.^[11]

List of editions

The editions are listed on the RAE Web site, and the forewords of former editions can be accessed from there.^[3] Some editions, including the 1726–1739 Diccionario de autoridades, are available in facsimile,^[12] or for online search.^[13]

Title page of the 1780 edition

First page of the Prologue to the 1780 edition

Second page of the Prologue to the 1780 edition

List of academics, as printed in the 1780 edition

Pejorative definitions

Many Spanish dictionaries have had racial and religious bias over the centuries; the DLE is no exception. Christianity and Catholicism were described in favourable terms; Judaism, Islam, and Protestantism unfavourably.^[15] By 2021 few biased definitions remained in the updated online DLE;^[15]: iv one that could be considered biased is one of the uses of moro (Moor, i.e. Muslim) – 10: (colloquial) A jealous and possessive man, who dominates his partner.^[16]

In 2006, the Spanish Federation of Jewish Communities complained that some of the dictionary's entries and definitions about Judaism were racist and offensive.^[17] One definition of sinagoga (synagogue) was: "a meeting for illicit ends"; the nominal definition of 'synagogue' was given first, and the pejorative definition was so identified. This had been removed by 2021.^[18]

In November 2014, Romani in Spain complained about RAE at the European Court of Human Rights.^[19] Yerba-buena, an association of Spanish gitanos ("gypsies" in English), complained that one definition of Gitano: "one who practices deceit" or "one who tricks", is offensive and could encourage racism.^[9] The RAE responded that the word gitano is actually used with the meaning of "trickster" in Spanish,^[20] and that the dictionary documents the actual use of words; inappropriate use has to be eradicated by education, removing the word from the dictionary does not change its use: "we simply photograph the landscape; we do not create it".^[17] However, in November 2014 it was announced that the definition was to be modified,^[21] and in October 2015 it was changed,^[22] with trapacero included in the definitions in the updated online dictionary, but labelled "used as offensive or discriminatory".^[23]

RAE also defined "woman" as the "weak sex".^[24] In November 2017, the term was examined^[25][26] and one month later it was changed.^[27]