agradecer

Forms

agradecer (first-person singular present agradezco, first-person singular preterite agradecí, past participle agradecido)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish a- + gradecer, the Old Spanish verb gradecer (“to thank”).^[2][3][4][1] The Old Spanish verb was made with the suffix -ecer from grado (“will, liking”), which continues Late Latin grātum (“gratitude”), the noun use of Latin grātus (“pleasing; grateful”).^[5][6]

Old Spanish also had gradir, from Vulgar Latin *grātīre, the source of Italian gradire; gracir, Old Occitan grazir and Old Catalan grair, today Catalan agrair, show the influence of grātia (“favour, thanks”).^[6][7][8] The Aragonese verb is agradeixer.^[1]

The Latin adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *gʷrātos and Proto-Indo-European *gʷr̥H-tó-s (“praised”), from the root *gʷerH- (“to welcome, praise”), which also gives Sanskrit गृणाति (gṛṇā́ti, “praises”).^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Gradecer and gradir are both in the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140): ¡A ti lo gradesco, Dios, que cielo e tierra guías! “I thank you for it, God, who rule heaven and earth!”^[6][10][11] The form with a- is first recorded in the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca (c. 1215, in a 14th-century copy): a Dios mucho lo agradesçió “he thanked God greatly for it”.^[3][11][12]

Semantic evolution

Corominas dated agradecer only from Nebrija (1495), treating some earlier examples, such as those in Alfonso X's astronomical books, as possible modernisations by later copyists.^[10][6] The TDHLE and the DEMel have it in texts of the 13th and 14th centuries, among them Alfonso X's Ochava esfera (1276) and López de Ayala's Rimado de Palacio (c. 1385), and gradecer still appears in Santillana in the 15th century.^[3][12][6] The spelling agradescer lasted until the second half of the 16th century, and a dialect form agraecer is found in Murcia, León, Zamora and Extremadura.^[3]

Nebrija distinguished thanking in words, in one's heart and in deeds, with three Latin phrases.^[13] In 1770 the Academy noted that the verb was also said of land that “thanks” the rain, the origin of the modern sense of a thing that repays the care given to it.^[14][2]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – gradecer and gradir in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[6][10]
• c. 1215 – agradesçió in the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca (in a 14th-century copy).^[3][11]
• 1276 – Alfonso X's Ochava esfera: every man should thank God for the good he did him.^[3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija's equivalents for thanking “in words”, “in the heart” and “in deeds”.^[13]
• 1547 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico.^[15]
• 1770 – the Academy records the use for land that “thanks” the rain.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To be grateful for something.^[2][1]
2. (transitive) To thank: to show gratitude or give thanks: Le agradecí la ayuda con una carta.^[2][1]
3. (transitive) Of a thing: to repay the work or care spent on it, to respond well to it: Las rosas agradecen el riego.^[2][4]

Word family

• agradecido
• agradecimiento
• desagradecer

Related words

• grado
• agradar
• gracia
• grato
• gratitud
• Catalan agrair

Usage notes

Agradecer is conjugated like other verbs in -ecer: agradezco, agradezca.^[16][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. agradecer
3. ^ 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. agradecer
4. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. agradecer
5. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 44
6. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 189
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 3132
8. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 1, 72
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. grado
11. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. agradecer
12. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. agradecer
13. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 286
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 1, 99
15. ^ 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. agradecer
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 120