apostar

apostar¹ to bet

Pronunciation

• /aposˈtaɾ/, [a.posˈt̪aɾ]^[1]

Forms

apostar (first-person singular present apuesto, first-person singular preterite aposté, past participle apostado)^[1]

Etymology

The word for betting is inherited from Vulgar Latin *appositāre, according to Wiktionary and Alonso, a verb formed on Latin appositus (“placed near; fitting”), the past participle of appōnō (“to place near, add”).^[1][2] The DLE and Moliner derive it from the same Latin participle; the Latin verb is formed from ad- and pōnō (“to put”).^[3][4][5] Alemany called the Late Latin verb a frequentative.^[6]

Old Spanish apostar first meant “to adorn, dress up”, like the adjective apuesto “handsome, well dressed”, which goes back to the same participle.^[7] The sense “to make a bet” is recorded from about 1570, and earlier, in the Crónica de 1344, in the form postar.^[7] García de Diego and Gómez de Silva take the betting verb from the noun apuesta “bet”.^[8][9] Corominas explains that noun, first recorded at the end of the 15th century, as an older puesta with the ⟨a⟩ of the article fused to it.^[7]

Covarrubias also derived the verb from Latin “to put”, because each party puts up the stake.^[10] Autoridades gave the Latin participle as its source, and the Academy's dictionary of 1884 did the same.^[11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first certain records are in Don Juan Manuel, about 1335, in the sense “to adorn”: E las mentiras que dicen sábenlas tan bien apostar “and the lies they tell they know how to dress up so well”.^[7][2][13] López de Ayala's chronicle of Peter I (1393–1407) has para se apostar e encavalgar e armar “to dress, mount and arm himself”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to adorn” lasted through the 14th and 15th centuries and was already marked as old in the Academy's dictionary of 1770.^[2][14] The betting sense, recorded from about 1570, was defined by Covarrubias in 1611 as putting a sum in the hands of a third party for whoever proves right.^[7][10] Autoridades (1726) added “to vie, compete with one another”.^[11]

The Academy later added the phrase apostarlas or apostárselas a alguien “to declare oneself someone's rival” and “to threaten someone”, which the DLE keeps as colloquial.^[15][3] Today the verb also means staking money on a game or a sporting result, and, with por, putting one's trust in a person or an idea that carries a risk.^[3][16] In Cuba, Ortiz noted in 1923, one bets on a raffle or roulette with no dispute or pact at all.^[17]

Timeline

• 1221 – DEMel records apostar in the Fuero de Plasencia, without context.^[18]
• c. 1335 – Don Juan Manuel uses it for “to adorn”.^[7][13]
• 1344 – the Crónica de 1344 has postar “to bet”.^[7]
• 1393–1407 – López de Ayala uses apostarse for “to dress up”.^[2]
• c. 1570 – the first record of apostar “to bet”, in Ercilla's Araucana.^[7]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines the betting sense.^[10]
• 1618 – the first record from the Americas.^[19]
• 1726 – Autoridades adds the sense “to vie”.^[11]
• 1770 – the Academy's dictionary marks “to adorn” as old.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy gives Latin appositum as the etymon.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To bet, wager: to agree that whoever is wrong will pay an agreed sum or thing; also pronominal: Apostamos un café a que el tren llega tarde.^[3][4][1]
2. To stake money on a game, race or match.^[3][16]
3. (intransitive, with por) To put one's trust in a person, idea or plan that carries a risk: La empresa apuesta por los coches eléctricos.^[3][4]
4. (intransitive) To compete, vie.^[3]
5. (obsolete) To adorn, dress up.^[3][2]

Word family

• apostante

apostar² to post, station

Pronunciation

• /aposˈtaɾ/, [a.posˈt̪aɾ]^[1]

Forms

apostar (first-person singular present aposto, first-person singular preterite aposté, past participle apostado)^[1]

Etymology

The word for posting someone is from Spanish postar, according to the DLE and Wiktionary, and that verb is formed on posta.^[3][20][1] Corominas and Vox take it from that noun in its sense “sentry”, which Spanish took around 1600 from Italian posta (“military post”).^[7][16] The Italian word goes back to Latin posita, the feminine past participle of pōnō (“to put, place”), first used of a fixed stopping place.^[21][22]

Autoridades instead derived this sense from the noun puesto “post, position”.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Autoridades (1726) gives it as a military term: to place troops or detachments at a chosen spot for an operation, and by extension to set someone at a place to keep watch and report.^[11] Corominas dates the sense only from the early 19th century, in Quintana.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The Academy's dictionary of 1817 extended it to the mules and horses placed along a road to relieve tired ones on a journey, and that of 1843 to people or horses in general, also used reflexively.^[23][15] Today the reflexive verb is common for taking up a position to watch, lie in wait or attack.^[16][3]

Timeline

• 1726 – Autoridades records the military sense.^[11]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary applies it to relay mules and horses.^[23]
• early 19th century – Quintana uses it, Corominas's first record.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To post, station: to place people or horses somewhere for a purpose; also reflexive, to take up a position: Los guardias se apostaron junto a la puerta.^[3][16]

Word family

• apostadero