donar

Forms

donar (first-person singular present dono, first-person singular preterite doní, past participle donat); root stress: (Northern) /u/, (Balearic, Central, Northwestern, Valencia) /o/^[1] The DCVB heads the word together with dar and records the pronunciations /duná/, /doná/ and /donáɾ/, the last with the final /r/ sounded.^[2] Before the spelling of 2016 the second and third persons of the present were written dónes, dóna.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dōnō (“to present, give as a gift”), a verb formed on dōnum (“gift”), which comes from dō (“to give”).^[5][6][7][1] In Late Latin it competed with the simpler verb because its forms were regular and complete.^[8]

The same Latin verb is Occitan donar, Spanish donar, Portuguese doar, French donner and Italian donare.^[9][1]

Catalan also inherited dar; over the history of the language the newer verb took more and more of its place and reduced it to a defective verb.^[6][7][1] The DCVB points out that the first person ⟨do⟩ of the older verb was also the regular Catalan outcome of ⟨dōnō⟩, which favoured the crossing of the two.^[2]

Wiktionary takes the Latin verb, with some doubt, from Proto-Italic *dōnāō, with cognates in Oscan and Venetic.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The future of dar (daré, darem) is recorded from 1055 in feudal oaths;^[6] donar first appears in the Homilies d'Organyà: cel qui dóna almosna a sson proxme fa bé, “he who gives alms to his neighbour does good”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

From the start of the 13th century dar and donar were used as equivalents side by side; a document of 1242 from the Conca de Tremp has que m en dés delme e no me-n volg donar.^[6] By the end of the century the two verbs had nearly the distribution they keep today, with the forms of donar predominating.^[6]

The medieval texts also use donar for the sun or wind beating on a place, for striking (Muntaner: donar a les portes), for fighting a battle and for paying.^[10] The early derivatives include adonar-se (13th century), donador and donant in Llull and donat in 1309;^[7] donació is a learned word from Latin.^[7]

Timeline

• 12th century – donar in the Homilies d'Organyà.^[6][7]
• 1242 – dar and donar side by side in a document of the Conca de Tremp.^[6]
• 1298 – Jafuda Bonsenyor: Deu vos do.^[10]
• 1309 – first record of donat.^[7]
• 1325 – Muntaner uses donar for attacking the gates of a town.^[10]
• c. 1555 – Joan Timoneda prints an imitation of the Cobles of Da-li Miquel, with the old imperative da.^[6]
• 1839 – Labèrnia's dictionary.^[11]
• 1932 – Fabra's dictionary.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. give: to hand over possession or ownership of something free of charge.^[4][2]
2. To give something in exchange for something else; to sell, for a price.^[4][2]
3. To pay what is owed, such as a tribute.^[2][10]
4. To provide; to cause someone to have something.^[2]
5. To yield, to produce fruit, money or profit.^[2][12]
6. To face or open onto a place, as a window onto a street.^[2]
7. Of the sun or wind, to beat on a place.^[10]

Word family

• adonar-se
• desdonar
• donable
• donada
• donador
• donant
• donat

Related words

• dar
• do
• perdonar
• donació
• condonar
• Latin dōnō
• Occitan donar
• French donner

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 Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. donar
3. ^ a b Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. donar
4. ^ 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. donar
5. ^ Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. donar
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. 3, 23
7. ^ a b c d e f Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 268
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d e Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. donar
11. ^ Labèrnia, Pere (1839–1840), Diccionari de la llengua catalana ab la correspondencia castellana y llatina, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. donar
12. ^ Vallès, Emili (1927), Pal·las: diccionari català il·lustrat, Barcelona: Salvat, p. s.v. donar