complir

Forms

complir (first-person singular present compleixo, first-person singular preterite complí, past participle complert or complit)^[1] The past participle is complert or complit.^[2] Complit prevails in Valencian and Balearic, complert in the other dialects.^[2][3] The medieval language had non-inchoative present forms, cumpl, cumples, cumple, cumplen and subjunctive cumpla, where the modern verb is conjugated like partir.^[4] Old texts also spell the infinitive cumplir.^[5][6] The DCVB records the pronunciations kumplí, kumplíɾ and komplí.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin compleō (“to fill up, to complete”), which Wiktionary takes through a Vulgar Latin form of the fourth conjugation, *complīre.^[5][4][7][1] Wiktionary calls the past participle in -ert analogical.^[1]

The same Latin verb is Spanish cumplir and Portuguese cumprir.^[8] Corominas calls the Spanish verb a semi-learned descendant, not a learned word.^[9] It is also Occitan complir.^[10]

The Latin word is formed com- + pleō (“to fill”), the verb of archaic Latin that also underlies omplir, from impleō.^[11][5] Coromines thinks this near-synonym influenced the initial vowel of the other verb.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

CICA's oldest record is in the Usatges de Barcelona, in a copy of the first half of the 13th century.^[12] A document of 1244 from Urgell already has the modern sense of carrying out an obligation: the lord orders his men to swear de complir e de seruar “to fulfil and observe” it.^[5] At the same period the verb also meant to fill: Llull writes in 1272 that someone compli sos hulls de plors “filled his eyes with tears”.^[13][5]

Semantic evolution

In the medieval language the verb meant to fill, materially or figuratively, as well as to complete, to finish and to carry out.^[5][14][13] Muntaner had the cisterns complir “filled” with water, and a document of 1285 uses it for making up a sum that is short.^[5] It could also be intransitive, “to suffice, to reach”, and “to be fitting, to concern”.^[13] The sense “to fill” faded: a dictionary of 1660 still gives umplir o complir as synonyms, but Lacavalleria (1696) and Belvitges (1805) no longer do; it survives in some western localities, from Boí to Fraga, where complir has replaced omplir.^[5]

The early 19th-century dictionaries treated complir as antiquated and referred to the form cumplir.^[15][16] Fabra's dictionary of 1932 restored complir as the headword, with the senses of fulfilling a promise or an order and of doing one's duty.^[17] The DIEC2 adds reaching a given age and the expiry of a period.^[2]

Timeline

• 13th century, first half – first record in CICA, in the Usatges de Barcelona.^[12]
• 1244 – a document from Urgell uses complir for fulfilling an obligation.^[5]
• 1272 – Llull uses it for filling the eyes with tears.^[13]
• 1285 – a document uses complesca for making up a sum.^[5]
• 13th century, second half – Desclot's chronicle has the spelling cumplir.^[6]
• 1325 – Muntaner writes that the archbishop compli la missa de dir, finished saying mass.^[13]
• 1398 – the council book of Cervera speaks of fulfilling all the agreements, complir tots los pactes.^[13]
• 1932 – Fabra's dictionary heads the word complir, with the participle complert or complit.^[17]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To fulfil or carry out fully something promised, wished or ordered: Sempre compleix el que promet.^[2][7]
2. (intransitive, with amb) To fulfil one's own duty or promises.^[2][7]
3. (pronominal) Of a prediction or wish, to come true.^[2][7]
4. complir condicions: to meet the requirements for a role.^[2]
5. (intransitive) To do one's duty: És una persona que sempre compleix.^[2][7]
6. (transitive) To reach a given age.^[2][4]
7. (intransitive) Of a period of time, to end, to expire.^[2][4]
8. (archaic, dialectal) To fill.^[4][5]

Word family

• compliment
• complidor
• complidament
• acomplir

Related words

• omplir
• Latin compleō
• Spanish cumplir
• Occitan complir

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. complir
3. ^ Institut d'Estudis Catalans, Diccionari essencial de la llengua catalana (DEIEC), online, https://deiec.iec.cat, p. s.v. complir
4. ^ a b c d e f Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. complir
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. 6, 62
6. ^ a b Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. cumplir
7. ^ a b c d e Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. complir
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. complere
9. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 290
10. ^ Alibert, Louis (1966), Dictionnaire occitan-français selon les parlers languedociens, Toulouse: Institut d'Études Occitanes, p. s.v. complir
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. compleō
12. ^ a b Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. complir
13. ^ 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. complir
14. ^ Nou glossari general lul·lià (NGGL), Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Universitat de Barcelona, https://nggl.ub.edu, p. s.v. complir
15. ^ Esteve, Joaquim; Bellvitges, Josep; Juglà, Antoni (1803–1805), Diccionario catalán-castellano-latino, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. complir
16. ^ Una Societat de Catalans (1839), Diccionari catalá-castellá-llatí-frances-italiá, 2 vols., Barcelona: Joseph Torner, p. s.v. complir
17. ^ a b Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. complir