absolver

Forms

absolver (first-person singular present absuelvo, first-person singular preterite absolví, past participle absuelto)^[1] In the Middle Ages forms with the group ⟨bs⟩ reduced to ⟨s⟩ or ⟨ss⟩ prevailed: asolver, assolver, absoluer, asoluer; they remained common until the early 17th century, when absolver and the participle absuelto became the only accepted forms.^[2][3] Rustic and vulgar forms include asoruer (c. 1550), Sancho Panza's confusion with sorber in Cervantes, the gypsy-imitating abzolver of Góngora, and agsolver and ausolver, the latter recorded in the Argentine interior.^[2][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin absolvō (“to set free, release; to acquit”), a learned word.^[5][6][7] Wiktionary notes that it was adapted to the conjugation of the native verb solver, hence the diphthong ⟨ue⟩ of the present tense and the participle absuelto.^[1][8]

The Latin verb is formed from ab- (“from, away”) and solvō (“to loosen, untie, release”).^[5][9][1] The simple verb is itself a compound of sē- (“away”) and luō (“to loosen”).^[10]

The Latin verb developed by the popular route into Italian asciogliere, Old French assoudre and Old Occitan asolver; French absoudre, Catalan absoldre and Portuguese absolver are learned or remade forms.^[11] García de Diego sees the old and vulgar Old Spanish asolver and Catalan assoldre as the popular development, and the Spanish and Catalan forms with ⟨bs⟩ as due to learned influence.^[7] The old verb ensolver (“to reduce or include one thing in another”), also a medical term for “to resolve, dissipate”, is a popular alteration of this verb.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DEMel's first primary record is the Becerro de Benevívere of about 1220–1230 (absoluerlas); Corominas's is Berceo, whose prayer that God los absüelva de todos los pecados “may absolve them of all their sins” the CDH places in 1228–1246, in a copy of the early 14th century.^[3][5][12] A charter of the monastery of Oña of 1237 has the sense “to release”: the abbot and convent absoluemos e lessamos “release and leave” their vassals of Nuez.^[12]

Semantic evolution

Cuervo observed that the senses of absolver did not grow within Spanish but were all taken from Latin, so that their common image, “to untie”, is not always felt.^[13] In the 13th century the verb already meant “to release from a charge or obligation”, “to forgive a penitent's sins” and “to lift an excommunication”.^[14][15] The sense “to solve a riddle or difficulty” appears in the Libro de Apolonio (c. 1240) and was still in use in Cervantes's time.^[2][4] Autoridades marked it as old in 1726, and the modern dictionary marks it as rare, beside “to carry out completely”.^[8][6]

The legal sense grew in the Academy's dictionaries: Autoridades has absolver de la instancia, releasing a defendant for lack of evidence while the case stays open, and the 1770 edition separates the theological and forensic senses.^[8][16] Today the verb means to acquit a defendant in criminal law, to reject the claims against a defendant in civil law, and in the Catholic Church to forgive sins in confession.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1220–1230 – first primary record in the DEMel, in the Becerro de Benevívere.^[3]
• 1228–1246 – Berceo uses it of the forgiveness of sins.^[5][12]
• 1237 – a charter of Oña uses absoluemos “we release”.^[12]
• c. 1240 – the Libro de Apolonio has asoluer for solving a riddle.^[2][12]
• 1270–1284 – Alfonso X's Estoria de España uses it for release from an oath.^[14]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija has assolver de pecado, Latin absoluo.^[17]
• 1531 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico City, as asolvieron.^[18]
• 1726 – Autoridades notes the irregular change of ⟨o⟩ to ⟨ue⟩ in absuelvo and absuelto.^[8]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin ab and solvere “to untie”.^[19]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To release someone from a charge or obligation.^[6][1]
2. (transitive, law) To acquit: to declare a person accused of a crime free of criminal responsibility: El tribunal absolvió a los dos socios.^[6][20][1]
3. (transitive, law) In a civil suit, to reject the claims of the plaintiff in favour of the defendant.^[6]
4. (transitive, religion) In the Catholic Church, to absolve a penitent of sins in confession, or to lift a censure.^[6][20]
5. (transitive, rare) To resolve a doubt or difficulty; to answer a question.^[6][20]
6. (transitive, rare) To carry something out completely.^[6]

Related words

• absolución
• absoluto
• absolutorio
• resolver
• disolver
• solver
• soltar
• Latin absolvō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. absolver
3. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. absolver
4. ^ a b Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. 22
5. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 23
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. absolver
7. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. absolvere
8. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 26
9. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 28
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. absolvere
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. absolver
13. ^ 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, 70
14. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. absolver
15. ^ Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. s.v. absolver
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 1, 23
17. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. absolver
18. ^ 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. absolver
19. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 7
20. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. absolver