enganyar

Forms

enganyar (first-person singular present enganyo, first-person singular preterite enganyí, past participle enganyat)^[1] The DCVB records /əŋɡəˈɲa/, /aŋɡaˈɲa/ and /eŋɡaˈɲaɾ/, and /əŋɡəˈna/ for enganar, the form usual in the Balearic Islands.^[2][3] Old Catalan wrote enganar; the form with -ny- becomes frequent only from 1575 on, and Balearic writers still use enganar.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Catalan enganar, which is inherited from Vulgar Latin *ingannō (“to mock, to make fun of”), a derivative of ganniō (“to yelp, to snarl”).^[3][4][5][1] Glosses of the 9th century, among them the Reichenau glosses, have ⟨inganare⟩ “to mock”, ⟨gannare⟩ and ⟨gannator⟩, and ⟨gannire⟩ itself is glossed “to mock” as well as “to bark”.^[3][1]

The same verb is Occitan enganar, Spanish engañar, Portuguese enganar and Italian ingannare; the Old French form, ⟨enjaner⟩, later died out.^[3][6]

The meaning went from barking and howling to jeering, and then to tricking.^[3] The OLD calls the Latin verb imitative, and de Vaan compares Slavic words for grumbling and for speaking through the nose.^[7][8]

Coromines thinks the change of conjugation may come from Late Latin ⟨sannare⟩ “to mock”.^[3] The older Catalan form had /n/, ⟨enganar⟩; the form with ⟨-ny-⟩ appears only in the late 16th century.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are a future, ne-l engañaré “nor will I deceive him”, in a Cerdanya document of 1064, and engannarei in a document of 1090.^[3][2] The Homilies d'Organyà have cuidan enganar son vedí “they think to deceive their neighbour”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Llull, Muntaner, Eiximenis and Roig all write enganar.^[3] Coromines notes that the shades “to be unfaithful to a spouse”, “to seduce a woman with a promise of marriage” and the reflexive “to judge wrongly” are already medieval, and in 1575 Onofre Pou speaks of deceiving birds with a decoy.^[3]

Labèrnia defines the verb as making someone believe what is not so, and as defrauding.^[9] Fabra adds the reflexive “to be mistaken” and “to disappoint”.^[10] Among the derivatives engany is recorded in 1050, enganyós in 1344 and desenganyar in Muntaner.^[4]

Timeline

• 1064 – engañaré in a document from Cerdanya.^[3][2]
• 1090 – engannarei in a document.^[3]
• 1100s – enganar in the Homilies d'Organyà.^[3][4]
• 1325 – Muntaner writes enganar in his chronicle.^[3][11]
• 1575 – Onofre Pou writes enganyar los ocells ab lo reclam.^[3]
• 1839 – Labèrnia heads the word enganyar.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To deceive by a false appearance: La llum ens va enganyar.^[12][5]
2. (pronominal) To be mistaken, to judge wrongly.^[12][1]
3. (transitive) To cheat, to trick; to be unfaithful to.^[12][2]
4. (transitive) To stave off, to beguile: enganyar la gana.^[12]
5. (transitive) To disappoint.^[12]

Word family

• desenganyar
• desengany
• engany
• enganyador
• enganyatall
• enganyifa
• enganyívol
• enganyós
• enganyosament
• enganyabadocs
• enganyapastors
• enganyamarits

Related words

• reganyar
• Latin ganniō
• Spanish engañar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. enganyar
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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, 346
4. ^ a b c d Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 318
5. ^ a b Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. enganyar
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4416
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. gannio
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. ganniō
9. ^ a b Labèrnia, Pere (1839–1840), Diccionari de la llengua catalana ab la correspondencia castellana y llatina, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. enganyar
10. ^ Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. enganyar
11. ^ Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. enganyar
12. ^ a b c d e 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. enganyar