cantar

Forms

cantar (first-person singular present canto, first-person singular preterite cantí, past participle cantat)^[1] The DCVB records /kəntá/ in the east, /kantá/ in the north-west and /kantáɾ/ in Valencia.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cantō (“to sing”), the frequentative of canō (“to sing”).^{[3][2][4][1][5]}

In classical Latin the frequentative meant "to sing often, habitually", and sometimes was already close to the simple verb in sense; in Vulgar Latin and the Romance languages it replaced the simple verb.^[3] The same Latin word is Romanian cânta, Italian cantare, French chanter, Old Occitan cantar, Spanish cantar and Portuguese cantar.^[6]

The noun meaning "song" is the same word, recorded under the verb in the DCVB and in Faraudo.^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Coromines finds both cant and cantar in the 13th century, in Ramon Llull: in the Llibre de meravelles the cock sings clearly and beautifully at dawn, and the birds of an orchard sing.^[3] Llull defines music as the art of singing and playing instruments rightly.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Medieval texts use the verb for people singing, for the cock crowing and for praising someone in verse.^[7][8] Jaume I had the canons sing the Te Deum.^[9] The infinitive was also a noun: cantar meant song, as in Jaume Roig's Spill (1460), and, in a Mallorcan hunting ban of 1392, a decoy call imitating a bird.^[7]

Coromines notes the many colloquial and slang uses of the verb for talking when one should keep quiet;^[3] cantar "to confess under pressure" may come from the sense "to declare indiscreetly", found in Valencian texts of the late 15th century.^[3] Labèrnia (1839) gives the noun cantar as a sung verse and the verb senses of singing, composing verse, declaring points at cards and revealing a secret.^[10]

The DCVB also records the senses "to cry" and, of stale fish, "to stink".^[2]

Timeline

• 1244–1274 – Jaume I has the canons sing the Te Deum.^[9]
• 13th century – Llull uses cantar of birds, of the cock and of music.^[3][8]
• 1392 – the noun cantar for a bird call, in a Mallorcan ban on hunting partridges.^[7]
• 1460 – the Tirant lo Blanc has the empress sing a song for Hipòlit.^[7]
• 1839 – Labèrnia lists the noun before the verb.^[10]
• 1932 – Fabra's Diccionari general records cantar missa and cantar les absoltes.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. To sing, to make musical sounds with the voice; to sing a song or melody: Cantaven nadales tota la nit.^[12][4][1]
2. Of birds and some insects, to sing or chirp; of a cock, to crow.^[2][13]
3. To celebrate in verse.^[2][4]
4. To call out aloud, as prices at an auction or points at cards.^[2][12]
5. (colloquial) To confess or give away a secret: A la comissaria va cantar de seguida.^[2][14]
6. (castells) To call out the names and places of those who will form a human tower.^[1]
7. cantar missa: of a new priest, to say his first Mass.^[12]

Noun

1. (dated) A song, a sung verse.^[2][7][10]

Word family

• cantador
• cantadís
• cantussar
• cantautor

Related words

• cant
• cantata
• càntic
• cantor
• cançó
• Latin cantō
• Spanish cantar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. cantar
3. ^ a b c d e f Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 2, 480
4. ^ a b c Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. cantar
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1611
7. ^ a b c d e f Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. cantar
8. ^ a b c Nou glossari general lul·lià (NGGL), Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Universitat de Barcelona, https://nggl.ub.edu, p. s.v. cantar
9. ^ a b Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. cantar
10. ^ a b c Labèrnia, Pere (1839–1840), Diccionari de la llengua catalana ab la correspondencia castellana y llatina, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. cantar
11. ^ Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. cantar
12. ^ a b c Institut d'Estudis Catalans (2007), Diccionari de la llengua catalana, 2nd ed. (DIEC2), Barcelona: Edicions 62; online edition with later updates, https://dlc.iec.cat, p. s.v. cantar
13. ^ Vallès, Emili (1927), Pal·las: diccionari català il·lustrat, Barcelona: Salvat, p. s.v. cantar
14. ^ Rodamots: cada dia, un mot (online), https://rodamots.cat, p. s.v. cantar