In this work, a presentation of Roque Barcia’s Primer diccionario general etimológico is made, starting with the process of its edition in order to analyze what was said in the prologue and to examine the content of the work: types of voices, structure of the articles, and sources. To achieve his goals, Barcia modified what he considered convenient from his sources and did an arduous work to know the origin of the words, so it helped him to order the meanings and to make recasts, as he did not agree with the proposed etymology and went further. The extension of the work, due to the enormous amount of information collected over many years from very different sources, and with not a few interruptions in its writing, are the reasons for the numerous inconsistencies and mistakes that, in addition to a great subjectivity in many places, motivated the criticism from the first moment. But, on the other hand, this Diccionario enjoyed a notable acceptance by the public, so it had an abbreviated edition, although not that much abbreviated, due to Eduardo de Echegaray, titled Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española. Therefore, in this article, news of this other work is given and attempts are made to explain the commercial reasons that led to it, and the consequences it had on Barcia's repertoires.

Código UNESCO / UNESCO Nomenclature: 550614