afirmar

Forms

afirmar (first-person singular present afirmo, first-person singular preterite afirmé, past participle afirmado)^[1] Old forms include affirmar and afyrmar; a popular ahirmar is found in texts of the 16th and 17th centuries.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin affirmō (“to strengthen, confirm; to assert”).^[3][4][5][1] Corominas adds that in some senses it is a popular formation from firme, and the 1726 Autoridades already analysed it as a- with the adjective.^[3][6] The Latin verb is formed ad- (“to”) and firmō (“to strengthen”), from firmus (“firm”).^[7][1]

García de Diego calls the standard form a learned word and sets beside it the popular outcome: Old Spanish ahirmar and similar Cantabrian forms.^[8][9] The Academy recorded this variant from 1726 as rare or old, between 1770 and 1817 as used only in carpentry and other trades.^[2] The same Latin word is Portuguese afirmar, Catalan afirmar, French affirmer and Italian affermare.^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word to Berceo (1220–1250).^[3][4] The TDHLE quotes an earlier affirmot “confirmed” in a charter of 1062 from San Juan de la Peña, and afirmare in the Fuero de Medinaceli of about 1129, both in the sense “to confirm, ratify” of legal documents.^[2] The Fuero de Zorita (1218–1250) has tod aquel que afirmar ouiere, of a man who has to establish a claim.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The oldest sense is “to confirm, ratify”, especially in notarial use; from it come “to make firm, steady” and, by the 13th century, “to state as true”.^[2][11] Alfonso X's prose already has the verb for fixing an instrument in place, for asserting something, and reflexively for keeping to what one has said.^[11] The Autoridades of 1726 also recorded an Aragonese sense “to settle, reside” and Covarrubias a fencing term, afirmarse “to advance firmly on the opponent with the point of the sword”.^[6][12] Cervantes writes that Don Quixote se afirmó bien en los estribos “planted himself firmly in the stirrups”.^[13]

In Chile and Mexico afirmar has meant “to deal (blows)”, a sense that Román criticised and the dictionaries of Americanisms record; in the Canaries it means to give someone a thrashing.^{[14][15][16][17]} In Judeo-Spanish it means “to sign”, and afirmarse is said of a prophecy or a blessing that comes true.^[18]

Timeline

• 1062 – a charter from San Juan de la Peña has affirmot “confirmed”.^[2]
• c. 1129 – the Fuero de Medinaceli has afirmare.^[2]
• 1220–1250 – Berceo uses afirmar.^[3][4]
• c. 1240 – the Libro de Apolonio has afirmaron la cosa “they confirmed the matter”.^[2]
• 1254 – the Alfonsine Judizios de las estrellas uses it for “to assert as true”.^[11]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin affirmo, affero and astruo.^[19]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records the fencing sense.^[12]
• 1726 – the Diccionario de Autoridades derives it from a- and firme and records the Aragonese sense “to reside”.^[6]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the Latin etymon, ad and firmare.^[20]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, also reflexive) To make firm, steady or secure.^[5][21]
2. (transitive) To assert, affirm, state as true: El testigo afirmó que no había visto nada.^[5][1]
3. (reflexive) To steady oneself by leaning on something: afirmarse en los estribos.^[5]
4. (reflexive) To stand by what one has said or declared.^[5][2]
5. (reflexive, fencing) To move firmly towards the opponent, presenting the point of the sword.^[5][12]
6. (Mexico, Chile) To deal blows or lashes to someone.^[16][15]

Word family

• afirmación
• afirmativo
• afirmado

Related words

• firme
• firmar
• confirmar
• Latin affirmō
• Portuguese afirmar
• French affirmer

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. afirmar
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 902
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. firme
5. ^ 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. afirmar
6. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 108
7. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. afirmar
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 251
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. afirmar
11. ^ a b c 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. afirmar
12. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 72
13. ^ 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. 45
14. ^ Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José, p. 26
15. ^ a b Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 50
16. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. afirmar
17. ^ Academia Canaria de la Lengua (2010), Diccionario básico de canarismos, Santa Cruz de Tenerife; online at https://www.academiacanarialengua.org, p. s.v. afirmar
18. ^ Nehama, Joseph (1977), Dictionnaire du judéo-espagnol, Madrid: CSIC, p. s.v. afirmar
19. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 286
20. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 27
21. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. afirmar