angostar

Forms

angostar (first-person singular present angosto, first-person singular preterite angosté, past participle angostado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin angustō (“to make narrow”).^[2][1][3][4] The Latin verb was formed on angustus (“narrow”), the source of the Spanish adjective angosto, and was used mainly of land narrowing between two features.^[5][6] DICCA-XV, by contrast, treats the Spanish verb as a derivative of the adjective.^[7]

The same Latin verb is Romanian îngusta.^[4][1] Old Spanish also had the prefixed forms ensangostar and esangostar.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Libro de Alexandre (c. 1240–1250, in a 15th-century copy) uses the verb intransitively, of a body seized by evil: ýuasle el alma en el cuerpo angostando “his soul was being squeezed within his body”.^[10][9]

Semantic evolution

In Alfonsine prose the verb means “to make narrow”; the General estoria has ensangostar in the sense “to distress, afflict”.^[8] The Diccionario de Autoridades (1726) defined it as reducing and narrowing what is wide, and recorded the figurative sense “to distress, afflict” as antiquated.^[11] The 1770 edition marked the verb itself as little used.^[12] The Academy added the intransitive use in 1869, and the DLE now gives it as transitive, intransitive and pronominal, also in figurative senses.^[13][2] From 1559 on it is recorded in the Americas for rivers, roads and land that grow narrower.^[14]

Timeline

• 1240–1250 – the Libro de Alexandre has angostando of a soul in distress.^[10][9]
• 1250–1300 – the Moamín uses the verb in the sense “to make narrow”.^[8]
• 1280 – the General estoria has the prefixed ensangostar “to distress”.^[8]
• 1291 – a document of San Zoilo de Carrión has esangostar.^[9]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija pairs it with estrechar and gives Latin angusto.^[15]
• 1559 – a record from the Río de la Plata: se angosta el río “the river narrows”.^[14]
• 1726 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the old figurative sense “to afflict”.^[11]
• 1869 – the Academy's dictionary adds the intransitive use.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. To narrow, make narrower; also intransitive and pronominal, to become narrower, and figurative: El camino se angosta al llegar al puente.^[2][16][1]
2. (obsolete) To distress, afflict (angustiar).^[16][17]

Related words

• angosto
• angustiar
• estrechar
• Latin angustus

Usage notes

Its first person singular present, angosto, has the same form as the adjective angosto.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. angostar
3. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. angostar
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. angustāre
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ 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. angostar
8. ^ a b c d 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. angostar
9. ^ a b c d Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. angostar
10. ^ a b 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. angostar
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 294
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 245
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 52
14. ^ 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. angostar
15. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 293
16. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. angostar
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 67