sobrar

Forms

sobrar (first-person singular present sobro, first-person singular preterite sobrí, past participle sobrat); root stress: (Northern) /o̞/, (Balearic, Central, Northwestern, Valencia) /ɔ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin superō (“to rise above, surpass, overcome”).^[2][3][1] The Latin verb is formed from super (“above”).^[3] The learned superar is a doublet of it.^[1]

The same Latin verb is Romanian supăra (“to annoy”), Old Italian soprare, Old Occitan sobrar, Spanish sobrar and Portuguese sobrar.^[4] Spanish superar is a learned word.^[5]

Coromines points out that in Latin the transitive use, “to be superior to, to surpass, to defeat”, was the usual and most frequent one, and Old Catalan kept it in all its shades before it became old-fashioned; the intransitive use, also classical, gave “to abound” and “to be left over”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Llull's Llibre de contemplació the verb is transitive: true life in the next world will be of such nobility that no falsehood can surpass it (sobrar) in greatness.^[6] The NGGL lists Llull's senses as to surpass, defeat, outdo and be superior.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The transitive sense was common in the medieval language: in Desclot's chronicle Manfred is to be defeated (sobrat), and Eiximenis writes that wisdom surpasses arms and all force.^[7][2] The intransitive senses appear as early: in the Costums de Tortosa and in Muntaner something is left over from a sum, and in Ausiàs March happiness is something one has in excess.^[2][7]

The DCVB orders seven senses, from “to be superior” and “to defeat” to “to overflow”, “to abound”, “to be unnecessary” and “to be left over”.^[8] Labèrnia gives only the intransitive ones: to exceed in weight or number, to remain, and of a person to be in the way.^[9] Fabra and the DIEC2 keep the transitive “to surpass” beside them.^[10][11]

Timeline

• c. 1271 – Llull's Llibre de contemplació, transitive “to surpass”.^[6]
• 1272 – the Costums de Tortosa, the DCVB's earliest quotation.^[8]
• 1283 – Desclot uses sobrar for defeating a king.^[7]
• Second half of the 13th century – first text in CICA, the Catalan Diàlegs of Saint Gregory.^[12]
• c. 1425–1459 – Ausiàs March: happiness li'n sobra, he has it in excess.^[7]
• 1839 – Labèrnia's dictionary gives the intransitive senses.^[9]
• 1932 – Fabra's dictionary keeps the transitive sense.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To surpass, overcome: No el va poder sobrar en la cursa.^[11][3][1]
2. (intransitive) To be more than is needed: Hi ha cadires de sobres; en sobren quatre.^[11][1]
3. (intransitive) To be unnecessary, to be in the way somewhere.^[11][1]
4. (intransitive) To be left over after what was needed has been used: Guarda el pa que ha sobrat.^[11][8]

Word family

• sobra
• sobrant
• sobrança
• sobralles

Related words

• sobre
• superar
• Latin superō
• Spanish sobrar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. 7, 971
3. ^ a b c Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. sobrar
4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8458
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. superare
6. ^ a b c Nou glossari general lul·lià (NGGL), Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Universitat de Barcelona, https://nggl.ub.edu, p. s.v. sobrar
7. ^ a b c d Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. sobrar
8. ^ a b c Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. sobrar
9. ^ a b Labèrnia, Pere (1839–1840), Diccionari de la llengua catalana ab la correspondencia castellana y llatina, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. sobrar
10. ^ a b Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. sobrar
11. ^ 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. sobrar
12. ^ Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. sobrar