tituló

Tituló is the third-person singular form of the Spanish verb titular, used in the pretérito perfecto simple (preterite) to indicate that someone titled or named something in the past. In practical use, it often appears in journalism, publishing, and literary contexts to describe the act of giving a title to a work or of creating a headline for a news item. For example, “El periódico tituló la noticia con un titular sensacional” means that the newspaper provided a sensational headline for the story. Another common construction is “tituló su novela,” meaning the author gave the work its title.

Etymology and related forms: The verb is derived from the noun título, which comes from Latin titulus, meaning label or inscription. Related forms include the noun título (title), the adjective titular (holding a title, or referring to a titleholder), and the past participle titulado (titled). The verb tituló is regular in conjugation for -ar verbs, with other preterite forms being titulé (yo), titulaste (tú), titulamos (nosotros), titulasteis (vosotros), titularon (ellos/ellas/ustedes).

Grammar notes: tituló answers questions about “who titled what” in the past, and typically governs a direct object that receives the title, such as a work or document. The distinction between the act of titling (tituló) and the resulting title (título) is important in interpretation, since the former is the action and the latter is the label itself.

See also: título, titular (adjective and noun), titulación.