anchar

Forms

anchar (first-person singular present ancho, first-person singular preterite anché, past participle anchado)^[1]

Etymology

The DLE, Wiktionary, García de Diego and Moliner see it as inherited from Latin ampliō (“to enlarge, widen”).^[2][1][3][4] On that view it is the popular doublet of ampliar, a learned borrowing of the same verb recorded from the second quarter of the 15th century.^[1][5] The TDHLE instead derives it from the adjective ancho, as Alemany had done.^[6][7] The usual verb from the adjective is ensanchar, recorded since the first half of the 13th century.^[5]

The Latin verb is formed from amplus (“large, wide”) with a causative suffix.^[1] The Spanish adjective continues the same Latin adjective.^[5] De Vaan reconstructs it as *amlo- (“seizable”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃emh₃- (“to grab”), but notes that the sound change this requires is hard to explain.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a Spanish translation of Isaac Israeli's Tratado de las fiebres (1450–1500), where heat and moisture have the property de anchar & de mouer la cosa a las partes de fuera “of widening and moving the thing outward”.^[6][9]

Semantic evolution

After that medieval record the verb reappears in the 19th century in the dictionaries of the Americas: Cuervo's notes on Bogotá speech (1867–1872), Arona's Peruvian dictionary (1883), and others for Venezuela, Guatemala, Chile, Nicaragua and Mexico, and Sbarbi's for Andalusia.^[6] A Colombian writer in 1921 still called anchar a word to be avoided and recommended ensanchar.^[10] Alemany (1917) recorded it as Andalusian and Colombian, and Santamaría (1942) noted that it had long been taken for an Americanism although it was usual in Spain too, and had finally entered the Academy's dictionary.^[7][11]

The DLE now labels it colloquial, with a rare intransitive sense “to grow conceited”.^[2] In the Dominican Republic and Colombia it also means to grow stout, and in the Dominican Republic to do well; in Guatemala ancharse is to boast, and in Nicaragua it is used above all of a woman's hips filling out.^[12][13]

Timeline

• 1450–1500 – the Tratado de las fiebres: anchar “to widen”.^[6]
• 1867–1872 – Cuervo records it in Bogotá.^[6]
• 1883 – Arona's Peruvian dictionary.^[6]
• 1917 – Alemany records it as Andalusian and Colombian.^[7]
• 1921 – a Colombian purist calls it a word to avoid.^[10]
• 1942 – Santamaría notes its entry into the Academy's dictionary.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. (colloquial) To widen, make wider;^[2][4][1] (reflexive) to become wider: Tuvieron que anchar la entrada del garaje.^[2][4][1]
2. (intransitive, rare) To grow conceited, put on airs.^[2]
3. (Dominican Republic, Colombia) To grow stout;^[12][13] (Dominican Republic) to do well, succeed.^[12][13]
4. (reflexive, Guatemala) To boast;^[12] (Nicaragua) to widen, especially of a woman's hips.^[12]

Related words

• ancho
• anchura
• ensanchar
• ampliar
• amplio
• Latin amplus

Usage notes

In standard Spanish the usual verb is ensanchar;^[2][7][6] anchar is colloquial and mainly American and Andalusian.^[2][7][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. anchar
3. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 503
4. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. anchar
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ancho
6. ^ 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. anchar
7. ^ a b c d e Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 118
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org, p. s.v. anchar
10. ^ 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. anchar
11. ^ a b Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 101
12. ^ a b c d e Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. anchar
13. ^ a b c 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. anchar