convenir

Forms

convenir (first-person singular present convinc, first-person singular preterite convinguí, past participle convingut); root stress: (Northern) /e̞/, (Balearic, Central, Northwestern, Valencia) /e/^[1] The oldest texts mostly have the reduced form covenir.^[2][3] The infinitive convindre predominates in Valencian in every register.^[4][5] The DCVB records kumbəní, kombení, koɱvəní and, for convindre, kombíndɾe and koɱvíndɾe.^[6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin conveniō (“to come together; to agree; to suit”).^[2][6][7][1] In the archaic period the reduced variant Old Catalan covenir predominated.^[2] Bruguera classes the verb among the learned words of the family of venir, first recorded in 1381.^[8]

The same Latin verb is French convenir, Spanish convenir, Italian convenire and Portuguese convir.^[1]

The Latin verb is formed con- + veniō (“to come”), from *komgʷəniō.^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Coromines finds the word in documents of the 11th century: an original parchment of 1068, written in Latin, has the Romance form cové for what a donor agrees to guarantee.^[2] In the Romance texts it is mostly used of agreements and covenants; the classical Latin sense “to gather” appears almost only in texts modelled on Latin.^[2] CICA's oldest record is in the Costums de Tortosa of 1272.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The impersonal co(n)vé “it is needful, one must” is frequent in Llull, and the set phrase co(n)vé a saber “that is to say” is already in the Homilies d'Organyà.^[2] Llull also uses the verb for agreeing or being consistent with something.^[11]

Labèrnia's dictionary lists the senses to agree, to be of the same opinion, to matter, to belong, and, as antiquated, to gather in a place.^[12] The phrase si molt convé “quite possibly, perhaps” became very general.^[2] Coromines prefers it to the less idiomatic equivalents.^[2] In Pallars no em convé res means “I don't feel like eating or drinking anything”.^[2] The negative desconvenir is recorded by Belvitges.^[2]

Timeline

• 1068 – the form cové in an original parchment charter.^[2]
• 12th century – the Homilies d'Organyà have qové a saber “that is to say”.^[2]
• 1272 – first record in CICA, in the Costums de Tortosa.^[10]
• 1381 – Bruguera's first date for convenir.^[8][7]
• 1839 – Labèrnia's dictionary marks the sense “to gather” as antiquated.^[12]
• 1932 – Fabra's dictionary gives si molt convé.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To suit, to be fitting for someone's position or situation: No et convé treballar tant.^[14][7]
2. (intransitive) To be useful or advisable: Convé que hi pensis.^[14][7]
3. si molt convé: possibly, as it may well turn out.^[14]
4. (intransitive) To gather or come together at a place.^[14][7]
5. (intransitive) To agree, to be of the same opinion.^[14][7]
6. (transitive) To agree on something with someone, to settle.^[14][7]

Word family

• desconvenir

Related words

• convenció
• conveni
• conveniència
• convenient
• inconvenient
• venir
• Latin conveniō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 9, 104
3. ^ Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. covenir
4. ^ Institut d'Estudis Catalans, Diccionari essencial de la llengua catalana (DEIEC), online, https://deiec.iec.cat, p. s.v. convenir
5. ^ Martí Gadea, Joaquim (1891), Novísimo diccionario general valenciano-castellano, Valencia, p. s.v. convenir
6. ^ a b Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. convenir
7. ^ a b c d e f g Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. convenir
8. ^ a b Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 952
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. conueniō
10. ^ a b Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. convenir
11. ^ Nou glossari general lul·lià (NGGL), Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Universitat de Barcelona, https://nggl.ub.edu, p. s.v. convenir
12. ^ a b Labèrnia, Pere (1839–1840), Diccionari de la llengua catalana ab la correspondencia castellana y llatina, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. convenir
13. ^ Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. convenir
14. ^ a b c d e f 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. convenir