acumular

Forms

acumular (first-person singular present acumulo, first-person singular preterite acumulé, past participle acumulado)^[1] Acomular alternated with acumular in the 16th and 17th centuries, and accumular is also found;^[1][2] acumular prevails from the 18th century, while acomular survives in the popular speech of New Mexico.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin accumulō (“to heap up, pile up”), a learned word.^{[4][5][6][1][2]} García de Diego lists popular forms from the same Latin verb: acombrar “to earth up plants”, acolumbrar in Cantabria and acogombrar in Salamanca.^[2] Spanish also used cumular, in Góngora and Saavedra Fajardo.^[4]

The Latin verb is formed ad- + cumulō (“to heap up”), the verb of cumulus (“heap, pile”).^[7][1][8] De Vaan derives the noun from Proto-Indo-European *ḱuh₁-mós (“heap”), with Ancient Greek κῦμα (kûma, “wave”) as its cognate, and notes that the verb is recorded much earlier than the noun;^[8][1] Wiktionary reports that Schrijver finds the derivation weak.^[8][1]

The same Latin verb was borrowed as French accumuler, recorded in 1327, and Catalan acumular.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Enrique de Villena's Tratado de consolación (c. 1422–1424): quanto más breue es la humana vida, a menos es dispuesta peligros & menos es acumulada culpas “the shorter human life is, the fewer dangers it is exposed to and the fewer faults it is charged with”.^[3][11] The TDHLE files this use under the sense “to impute, charge with offences or faults”.^[3] Corominas, who did not know it, dated the verb from 1546–1548, in Fernández de Oviedo.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to add, bring together” appears in Villena's glosses on the Aeneid (1427–1428), where many more examples se podrían acumular “could be added”.^[11] The legal sense, joining one lawsuit to another, is recorded in Mexico City in 1531, mandamos acomular este dicho proceso.^[12] Covarrubias in 1611 called the verb a legal term, used when other crimes are added to one charge.^[13]

The Diccionario de Autoridades gave “to pile up many things in one place”, quoting Cervantes's Persiles on riches heaped up like those of Croesus, then “to add one reason or deed to another” and the legal sense.^[14] The Academy's 1770 edition added “to impute a crime or fault”.^[15] Gaspar y Roig recorded the figurative “to amass wealth or influence”.^[16] The current dictionary restricts “to impute” to Aragon and calls it rare, and in the Dominican Republic the verb means “to slander”.^[6][17]

Timeline

• c. 1422–1424 – Enrique de Villena uses it for charging someone with faults.^[3][11]
• 1427–1428 – Villena's Aeneid glosses use it for adding examples.^[11]
• 1492 – Nebrija's Latin dictionary renders Latin accumulo as amontonar uno a otro.^[18]
• 1531 – the form acomular in a legal sense in Mexico City.^[12]
• 1546–1548 – Corominas's first record, in Fernández de Oviedo.^[4]
• 1611 – Covarrubias calls it a legal term.^[13]
• 1770 – the Academy records the sense “to impute”.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. To accumulate or heap up many things without order: Acumulaba revistas viejas en el garaje.^[6][1]
2. To gather a considerable amount of something, such as money, experience or energy; reflexive, to pile up: Se le acumula el trabajo.^[6][19]
3. (law) To join proceedings so that one ruling decides them all.^[6]
4. (Aragon, rare) To impute a crime or fault to someone.^[6]
5. (Dominican Republic) To slander.^[17]

Word family

• acumulación
• acumulable
• acumulativamente

Related words

• cúmulo
• cumular
• Latin cumulus
• French accumuler

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. accumulare
3. ^ 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. acumular
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 290
5. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cúmulo
6. ^ a b c d e f 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. acumular
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. acumular
11. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. acumular
12. ^ 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. acomular
13. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 56
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 75
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 1, 64
16. ^ 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, 40
17. ^ a b Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. acumular
18. ^ 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. acumular
19. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. acumular