ascender

Forms

ascender (first-person singular present asciendo, first-person singular preterite ascendí, past participle ascendido)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ascendō (“to go up, climb”), formed ad- + scandō (“to climb”).^[2][3][4][1] The DCECH treats it under descender, another derivative of the same Latin verb, and calls it more learned than that word, which was taken over in the Middle Ages and adapted as decender.^[2] Corominas dates it from 1555, in the Viaje de Turquía; it then appears in Cervantes and several 17th-century writers.^[2][3] DICCA-XV has an earlier record, of 1498.^[5] VOX calls it a 16th-century loan.^[6]

The Latin simple verb goes back to Proto-Italic *skand-e/o- (“to ascend”) and Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to jump up, ascend”).^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The early hits for ascender in the CDH belong to other verbs: in the 13th century the form stands for encender “to light” (ascender fachas “to light torches” in Herman el Alemán's psalter), and in the Cid for esconder “to hide”.^[8][9][10] In the sense “to go up” the DCECH's first record is the Viaje de Turquía of 1555.^[2] The Diccionario de Autoridades quotes Lope de Vega for a spiritual ascent: desde aquí ascendiendo a tanta alteza “rising from here to such a height”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades already has the figurative phrase ascender a la dignidad, “to rise to a higher rank”.^[11] The Academy's 1770 edition marked the sense “to go up” as little used and noted that the verb of promotion was sometimes transitive, as when someone promoted his relatives.^[12] Cuervo documents both the literal sense and the figurative movement toward something thought of as higher.^[13] In the Americas the sense “to be promoted” is recorded from 1664 in Nuevo León.^[14]

The DLE adds “to amount to” of a sum, and the transitive “to promote”;^[4][15] Moliner also gives the rise of a temperature or other measure.^[4][15]

Timeline

• 1492 – Nebrija glosses Latin ascendo with subir.^[5]
• 1498 – the first record that DICCA-XV gives.^[5]
• 1555 – the Viaje de Turquía uses it, the DCECH's first record.^[2][3]
• 1664 – first record from the Americas, in Nuevo León, of a promotion for merit.^[14]
• 1726 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines the verb and the phrase ascender a la dignidad.^[11]
• 1770 – the Academy marks the literal sense as little used.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To ascend, go up, climb to a higher place: Ascendimos hasta el refugio en dos horas.^[4][1]
2. (intransitive) To be promoted, to rise in rank or position: Ascendió a capitán el año pasado.^[4][1]
3. (intransitive) Of a bill or sum: to amount (to): Los gastos ascienden a mil euros.^[4][15]
4. (transitive) To promote someone: La empresa ascendió a dos empleadas.^[4]
5. (intransitive) Of a temperature or other measure: to rise.^[15]

Related words

• ascendente
• ascendiente
• ascensión
• ascenso
• ascensor
• descender
• trascender
• condescender
• Latin ascendō

Usage notes

The stem takes ie when stressed: asciendo, ascienden.^[1] Old Spanish had two unrelated verbs of the same spelling: ascender “to light”, a variant of encender found in the Siete Partidas, and ascender “to hide”, from Latin abscondere, in the Cantar de mio Cid and still in use in the 16th century.^[9][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 456
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. descender
4. ^ 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. ascender
5. ^ a b c 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. ascender
6. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. ascender
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. scandō
8. ^ Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. ascender
9. ^ a b 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. 401
10. ^ a b Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 71
11. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 429
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 1, 352
13. ^ 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, 674
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. ascender
15. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ascender