acompañar

Forms

acompañar (first-person singular present acompaño, first-person singular preterite acompañé, past participle acompañado)^[1] Old Spanish spellings include aconpañar, acompannar, aconpannar, acompanyar and acopañar.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Old Spanish a- + compaña + -ar, on the old and dialectal noun for “company”.^[4][5][1][6] The noun presupposes Vulgar Latin *compania (“company”), which Corominas thinks was formed at the same time as the Merovingian-period Medieval Latin companio (“companion”).^[4] That word is a calque of Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌹𐌱𐌰 (gahlaiba, “companion”), from 𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌹𐍆𐍃 (hlaifs, “bread”) with the prefix 𐌲𐌰- (ga-) of company: one who shares the same bread.^[4][7][8] García de Diego likewise traces it to Latin cum (“with”) and pānis (“bread”).^[6]

The family is common to almost all of Romance: compare Italian accompagnare and French accompagner.^[4][9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is in the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy), where the Cid sends good knights que aconpañen a Minaya “to go with Minaya” on a raid.^[2][11][12] The BDELC also dates it to about 1140.^[13]

Semantic evolution

In Old Spanish the verb meant “to go or be in the company of”.^[2] From the 13th century the pronominal form also meant “to keep company with”: the Poridat de las poridades (c. 1250) has the young man aconpannarse con los Sabios, and a 15th-century text warns women not to keep company with women of bad repute.^[2] Alfonso X's prose already uses the participle for one who is well attended.^[14]

The Diccionario de Autoridades (1726) gave three senses: to be or go with someone out of courtesy, friendship or duty, as servants do with their masters; to join one thing to another; and, in painting, to add ornaments that set off the main figure.^[15] The musical sense, playing the subordinate parts while another performs the main one, and the pronominal sense used of judges, doctors and notaries consulting a colleague appear in the Academy's dictionary of 1817.^[16] Domínguez in 1846–1847 added the commercial use, to send one thing enclosed with another.^[17] Today the DLE also lists “to share someone's feelings”, as in the formula of condolence te acompaño en el sentimiento, and marks the use for experts as obsolete.^[5][18]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses aconpañar “to go with”.^[2][13]
• c. 1236 – Berceo has the participle acompañado in the Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos.^[11]
• c. 1250 – the Poridat de las poridades uses the pronominal aconpannarse con.^[2]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin comitor and assector for it.^[19]
• 1550 – first record in the Americas, from Panama.^[20]
• 1568 – the proverb más vale estar solo que mal acompañado is recorded in Guatemala.^[20]
• 1726 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the senses “to accompany”, “to join” and the painting sense.^[15]
• 1817 – the Academy adds the musical sense.^[16]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, also pronominal) To be or go with someone; to accompany, escort: Mi hermano me acompañó a la estación.^[5][1]
2. (transitive) To add or enclose one thing with another: Acompañe la solicitud con una fotocopia del pasaporte.^[5][21]
3. (transitive, also pronominal) Of a thing: to exist alongside another or at the same time.^[5]
4. (transitive) Of luck, a quality or a passion: to be present in someone: Ojalá te acompañe la suerte.^[5]
5. (transitive) To share in someone's feelings.^[5]
6. (heraldry, painting) To ornament the main figure or shield with others.^[5]
7. (music, also pronominal) To play the accompaniment.^[5]
8. (pronominal, obsolete) Of an expert: to join colleagues of the same profession to deal with a matter.^[5]

Word family

• acompañamiento
• acompañante
• acompañado

Related words

• compañía
• compañero
• compaña
• Italian accompagnare
• French accompagner

Usage notes

The proverb más vale solo que mal acompañado “better alone than in bad company” is recorded in Guatemala in 1568.^[20][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. acompañar
3. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. acompañar
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 161
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. acompañar
6. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 1776
7. ^ Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 117
8. ^ Lehmann, Winfred P. (1986), A Gothic Etymological Dictionary, based on the third edition of Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache by Sigmund Feist, Leiden: Brill, p. 167
9. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 139
10. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 1, 22
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. acompañar
12. ^ Alonso Pedraz, Martín (1986), Diccionario medieval español: desde las Glosas Emilianenses y Silenses (s. X) hasta el siglo XV, 2 vols., Salamanca: Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, p. 109
13. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. compañero
14. ^ 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. acompañar
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 59
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 14
17. ^ 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. 29
18. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. acompañar
19. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 283
20. ^ a b c 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. acompañar
21. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. acompañar