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aportar

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word aportar

aportar1 to arrive, reach port

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1260 Alfonso X, Siete Partidas
Ultimate origin
Latin portus
Etymology tree of aportar1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin portus
Italian porto
Spanish puerto
Spanish aportar
French port
From the same root · aportar1
Latin angiportum ← portus
Latin importūnus ← portus
Latin opportūnus ← portus
Italian aeroporto ← porto

Pronunciation

  • /apoɾˈtaɾ/, [a.poɾˈt̪aɾ][1]

Forms

aportar (first-person singular present aporto, first-person singular preterite aporté, past participle aportado)[1]

Etymology

The word for “to reach port” is formed from Spanish a- + puerto, with the verb ending -ar.[2][3][4][5] puerto continues Latin portus (“harbour entrance, port”).[3] The same formation is Old Galician-Portuguese aportar, recorded in the 13th century, and Catalan aportar.[3][6][7]

Juan Ruiz has the diphthongised subjunctive apuerte, and the present without the diphthong is found only from the 16th century, in Garcilaso.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DCECH's first record is the Partidas of about 1260, of goods que aportasen a algunt puerto suyo “that came to one of his ports”.[3] The Fuero de Cáceres (dated 1234–1275 in the CDH) and the Fuero de Usagre use it of merchants who come into a town.[8] Alfonso X's Estoria de España tells that a great fleet aportaua at the port of Valencia.[8][9]

Semantic evolution

The sense widened early from ships to people reaching a place, often by chance.[9][10] Covarrubias in 1611 said it meant to make port, and often to land somewhere unplanned after being lost.[11] Autoridades in 1726 called the verb a compound of a and puerto and gave the figurative sense of arriving at a place that is not a port, after wandering.[10] Cuervo quotes Salvá's distinction between aportar a Cádiz, to reach that port by accident, and aportar en Cádiz, to put in there as the end or stage of a voyage.[12] Corominas notes that it is still popular in many places, such as Almería, in the general sense “to turn up anywhere”.[3] Moliner records it for coming or going somewhere, and Vox the Chilean aportarse “to turn up”.[3][13][4] The DLE now puts “to end up somewhere, by choice or chance” first and marks the sense “to make port” as little used.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1260 – the Siete Partidas.[3]
  • 1270–1284 – Alfonso X's Estoria de España uses it of a fleet reaching Valencia.[8][14]
  • 1330–1343 – Juan Ruiz uses the diphthongised form apuerte.[3][15]
  • 1525 – first record in the Americas: a ship aportó a la villa de Trinidad.[16]
  • 1611 – Covarrubias defines it.[11]
  • 1726 – the Diccionario de Autoridades derives it from a and puerto.[10]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (intransitive) To end up or arrive somewhere, by choice or by chance: Después de tantos viajes aportó en un pueblo del sur.[2][13]
  2. (intransitive, rare) To make port; to put into a harbour.[2][1]

aportar2 to contribute, bring

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1385 Pero López de Ayala, Rimado de Palacio
Borrowed from
Latin apporto
Ultimate origin
Latin portō
Etymology tree of aportar2
inherited borrowed derived
Latin portō
French porter
English port
Italian portare
Spanish portar
Latin apportō
French apporter
Spanish aportar
From the same root · aportar2
Italian porto ← portō
Latin asportō ← portō
Latin comportō ← portō
Latin dēportō ← portō
Latin exportō ← portō
Latin importō ← portō
Latin portābilis ← portō
Latin portātor ← portō
Latin portitor ← portō
Latin reportō ← portō
Latin supportō ← portō
Latin trānsportō ← portō
Spanish comportar ← portō
Spanish importar ← portō
French emporter ← porter
French port ← porter
English airport ← port
Italian portata ← portare
Italian riportare ← portare
English rapport ← apportō
French rapporter ← apportō
French rapport ← apporter

Pronunciation

  • /apoɾˈtaɾ/, [a.poɾˈt̪aɾ][1]

Forms

aportar (first-person singular present aporto, first-person singular preterite aporté, past participle aportado)[1]

Etymology

The word for “to contribute, bring” is borrowed from Latin apportō (“to carry, bring, convey”), according to the DLE, which analyses it as ad- (“towards”) and portō (“to carry”).[2][1][17] Corominas, Segura Munguía and Vox take it as borrowed from French apporter, borrowed about 1400.[18][19][4] The French verb is itself from the Latin one, as are Italian apportare and Catalan aportar.[20][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DME's first record is Pero López de Ayala's Rimado de Palacio (1385), in the sense “to bring”: En la lus deste mundo ellos me aportaron “they brought me into the light of this world”.[9] A Latin–Spanish glossary of about 1400 renders Latin apello with aportar.[9]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades in 1726 recorded the sense “to bring about, cause” as rare, quoting the Quijote: el mal que me aportáres por loco “the harm you bring me as a madman”.[10] The Academy's 1843 edition added a legal sense, “to bring”, and its 1884 edition gave this verb its own article with the etymology apportare and the sense of bringing one's share to a partnership, above all a husband's or wife's property to the marriage.[21][22] The general sense “to contribute, provide” is now the first in the DLE, and “to carry, bring” is little used.[2] Moliner also records presenting evidence or reasons in support of something.[13]

Timeline

  • 1385 – Pero López de Ayala's Rimado de Palacio, “to bring”.[9]
  • c. 1400 – a Latin–Spanish glossary; the BDELC dates the verb to about this time.[9][18]
  • 1726 – Autoridades records the rare sense “to cause”.[10]
  • 1843 – the Academy's dictionary adds a legal sense.[21]
  • 1884 – the Academy gives this verb its own article and etymology.[22]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (transitive) To contribute, add or give: Cada vecino aportó algo para la fiesta.[2][13][1]
  2. (transitive, law) To bring one's share to a company or partnership one belongs to.[2]
  3. (transitive, law) Of a spouse: to bring property or assets into the marriage.[2][13]
  4. (transitive) To put forward evidence, reasons or testimony.[13]
  5. (transitive, rare) To carry, bring or convey.[2][1]

Word family

  • aportación
  • aporte
  • aportador
  • aportante

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. aportar
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 682
  4. ^ a b c Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. aportar
  5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 5169
  6. ^ a b Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. aportar
  7. ^ Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. 277
  8. ^ 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. aportar
  9. ^ a b c d e f Alonso Pedraz, Martín (1986), Diccionario medieval español: desde las Glosas Emilianenses y Silenses (s. X) hasta el siglo XV, 2 vols., Salamanca: Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, p. 342
  10. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 346
  11. ^ 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. 197
  12. ^ Cuervo, Rufino José (1886–1893), Diccionario de construcción y régimen de la lengua castellana, vols. I–II (A–D), París: A. Roger y F. Chernoviz, p. 1, 549
  13. ^ a b c d e f Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. aportar
  14. ^ 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. aportar
  15. ^ Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. s.v. aportar
  16. ^ 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. aportar
  17. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  18. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. portar
  19. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 594
  20. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  21. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 57
  22. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 86

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Aportar.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/aportar. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·