Can por instancia be used as "for instance"

Question

Can por instancia be used as "for instance" I almost wrote it a minute ago then I realized it might not mean for instance in Spanish like it does in English. ¿Qué opinan? Gracias.

Answer 1

A little bit of etymology. The words instance and instance come from Latin "instantia", which comes from instans (=instant), from in- + stare (see "estar"), originally meaning "presence, urgency", or more literally, "pressing", "rest over", "follow", "be close/urgent".

So where does the "example" meaning come from anyway? It has to do with the scholastic interpretation of the word, because the word instantia was a contestation to a formal argument from another party. It wasn't exactly just one example, but one argument that could be given as an example to refute other person's argument, ie. a counter-example. Somehow, it ended up meaning "example" in English, but mainly in the sentence "for instance". This never happened in Spanish or other languages.

In Modern Spanish, "instance" means "application", "(oficial) request", "petition", "authority", "urgent request", and other things related to important presences and urgency (in bureaucracy). But not "EXAMPLE", or at least, not that I know of.

So the answer is no then? ;) Gracias. - jeezzle, Sep 3, 2010

Sorry, I got carried away. - lazarus1907, Sep 3, 2010

Not at all, I often write the longer answers like this down in a notepad and read them later on when in traffic or at work, great way to learn the "behind the scenes" stuff. - jeezzle, Sep 3, 2010

I love the study of linguistics. - jeezzle, Sep 3, 2010