abjurar

Forms

abjurar (first-person singular present abjuro, first-person singular preterite abjuré, past participle abjurado)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin abiūrō (“to deny on oath”), a learned word.^[2][1][3][4] The Latin verb is formed from ab- (“away from”) and iūrō (“to swear”), from iūs (“law, right”).^[5][1][6] In classical Latin it meant “to deny knowledge of something falsely on oath”, as of a debt.^[5] Medieval Latin used it for renouncing something by oath and for swearing never to return to a place.^[5][7] De Vaan traces the noun to Proto-Italic *jowos (“oath, law”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂oi-u (“vital force, eternity”).^[6]

The same learned verb is Catalan abjurar, Portuguese abjurar, French abjurer and Italian abiurare.^[8][9][10] French has it from 1327, first for rejecting someone's authority by oath.^[11] Spanish inherited the simple verb as jurar.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Enrique de Villena's translation and glosses of the Aeneid (1427–1428, in a copy of 1442), which explains that abjurar es prometer con juramento de non tornar a fazer ninguna cosa en que ha dilinquido “to abjure is to promise on oath never again to do anything in which one has offended”.^[12] Corominas's first record is Gómez Manrique, in the mid-15th century; the BDELC gives about 1569.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

From the late 15th century the verb belongs above all to the language of the Inquisition: documents on Judaizers make the accused say abomino y abjuro y anatematizo toda eregía “I abhor and abjure and anathematise all heresy”, and in Lima in 1572 the same formula is recorded.^[12][13] The Diccionario de Autoridades and the Academy's dictionary from 1770 to 1817 recorded the Inquisition's abjurar de levi and abjurar de vehementi, a retraction under oath when the suspicion of heresy was slight or strong.^[14][15][16]

The verb also widened to breaking a promise, giving up a habit or rejecting someone's authority, as in Juan de Ávila and Ribadeneyra.^[17] The Academy's 1843 edition extended the retraction to any error or mistake, and Domínguez in 1846 to political as well as religious beliefs.^[18][19] Cuervo documents the transitive use, abjurar la herejía, and the DLE and Moliner also the construction with de.^[20][2][21]

Timeline

• 1427–1428 – Enrique de Villena defines abjurar in his glosses on the Aeneid.^[12]
• mid-15th century – Gómez Manrique uses the word.^[3]
• 1487 – Hernando de Talavera writes of a heretic who would not abjure his error.^[12]
• 1538 – Juan de Ávila uses it for renouncing one's own glory.^[12][17]
• 1572 – first record in the Americas, in an Inquisition formula in Lima.^[13]
• c. 1580 – Fray Luis de Granada uses the word.^[3]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records abjurar de levi and de vehementi.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology from Latin ab and iurare.^[22]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, also intransitive with de) To renounce or retract, often publicly, a belief or commitment one once held: Abjuró del protestantismo antes de casarse.^[2][21][1]
2. To forswear an error or heresy under oath.^[21][14]

Related words

• jurar
• abjuración
• perjurar
• conjurar
• Latin abiūrō
• French abjurer

Usage notes

In the old procedure of the Inquisition, abjurar de levi and abjurar de vehementi meant to retract under oath when the suspicion of heresy was slight or strong.^[14] Gaspar y Roig already marked the phrases as old.^[14][23]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. abjurar
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 541
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. jurar
5. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 342
9. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. abjurar
10. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 58
11. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. abjurer
12. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. abjurar
13. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. abjurar
14. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. abjurar
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 1, 11
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 4
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. abjurar
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 3
19. ^ Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 16
20. ^ Cuervo, Rufino José (1886–1893), Diccionario de construcción y régimen de la lengua castellana, vols. I–II (A–D), París: A. Roger y F. Chernoviz, p. 1, 44
21. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. abjurar
22. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 4
23. ^ Gaspar y Roig (eds.) (1853–1855), Biblioteca ilustrada de Gaspar y Roig: Diccionario enciclopédico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Imprenta y Librería de Gaspar y Roig, p. 1, 18