The Latin word dilapidāre came into our language as dilapidar . This verb refers to wasting or squandering resources , whether their own or those that an individual has the responsibility of managing or administering.
For example: “If you continue like this, you are going to squander all your savings,” “You should not squander water since it is a scarce resource,” “How long are we going to tolerate public officials squandering funds?” public?” .
Dilapidating implies wasting : making an unnecessary expense. Whoever squanders money or some good that can be exhausted, therefore, is wasting it. This is behavior that is not logical or rational.
Suppose a man wins a million-dollar sum in the lottery. Your family and friends suggest that you enjoy the prize, but also save and invest to ensure that you do not have any financial problems in the future. The lucky guy, however, begins to squander the money he earned : he buys products he doesn't need or use, uses bills to light his cigarettes, buys drinks for people he doesn't even know and approaches him out of convenience, etc. Thus, in a few years the man runs out of money.
Electrical energy is also a resource that is sometimes squandered. Each region has a limited generation capacity: once that limit is reached, service outages and interruptions occur due to high demand. If a person leaves all the lights on in their house, uses the air conditioning at a lower temperature than recommended and never turns off the television even if they are not watching it, they are wasting electricity.
As can happen with many other terms, dilapidate has at least one very similar one, in this case we are referring to lapidar , which generates certain confusion in everyday speech, since some people use them interchangeably even though their meanings are very similar. different. By stoning we understand the action of "stoning someone to death", that is, throwing stones at them with violence, or the action itself of "throwing rocks at a person."
In this framework we can talk about the noun stoning , which precisely refers to a form of execution that was used in ancient times, which consisted of violently throwing stones at a prisoner until taking his life. Given that human beings are capable of withstanding strong blows without losing consciousness, as long as they are struck in certain parts of the body, this sentence was especially atrocious because it produced a very slow and painful death.
If we ask ourselves the reason why it is common for Spanish-speaking people to confuse these two words in informal language , we will probably direct our gaze to its component "lápida", which in Latin derives from lapis, lapidis (which can be translated as " stone"). In the etymology of the verb lapidar we find lapidare , which also meant "to kill with stones", and which attached to the noun lapis, lapidis the suffix -ar , so used in our language.
Well, in the verb dilapidate we also have the noun lapis, lapidis , and the reason that both terms use the idea of "stone" to form their meanings is that when thinking about "wasting, squandering or squandering" money we can imagine someone throwing stones without any qualms, wasting their assets indiscriminately and unconsciously.
In conclusion, we should not say, for example, that "the journalist squandered the singer in his article because of the quality of her performance in the theater" but rather, in a figurative sense, "he stoned her," referring to the negative nature of her performance. criticism , probably harshly pointing out aspects of his voice and his presence on stage.