atrapar

Forms

atrapar (first-person singular present atrapo, first-person singular preterite atrapé, past participle atrapado)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French attraper (“to catch in a trap; to catch up with”), formed in French from trappe (“trap”).^[2][3][4][1] The French verb is recorded as Old French atraper from 1165.^[5] The DHLF derives the French noun from Frankish *trappa (“trap”), related to Old English treppe and the English word trap.^[6] Corominas, writing on the native cognate trampa, doubts that the Romance words were taken from Germanic: they belong to a family of words with the roots ⟨trapp-⟩ and ⟨tramp-⟩ meaning “to tread”, of onomatopoeic origin.^[7][8]

The Academy's 1884 dictionary and García de Diego derive the verb instead from trapa, a variant of the native noun, but García de Diego notes that the Diccionario de Autoridades already took it straight from French.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH has isolated 15th-century examples: in a Lapidario of about 1420, amber rubbed or warmed in the sun atrape assi las pajas “catches up the straws”, and in Mosé Arragel's Bible translation (c. 1422–1433) the lion muylla e atrapa la preda “roars and seizes its prey”.^[11] Corominas knows only an isolated example in a 1535 edition of the prophecies of Merlin, and takes the Diccionario de Autoridades (1726) as the real first record.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In 1726 the Academy called it a modern word taken from French, “to catch someone who flees or goes in a hurry”, used rarely, only in vulgar style and usually in jest.^[12] Corominas still describes it as an affective word of familiar style, especially in Spain.^[2] Terreros added the senses “to deceive” and “to get or earn”, the latter with a hint of greed.^[13] The 1884 dictionary lists “catch”, “get” and “deceive, lure”, all as familiar.^[9] In Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and Venezuela it is the baseball term for catching a batted ball in the air.^[4][14]

Timeline

• c. 1420 – a Lapidario uses atrape of amber catching straws.^[11]
• c. 1422–1433 – Mosé Arragel's Bible translation uses it of a lion seizing its prey.^[11]
• 1535 – an isolated example in an edition of the prophecies of Merlin.^[2]
• 1726 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records it as a modern word from French.^[12][3]
• 1786 – Terreros adds the senses “to deceive” and “to get”.^[13]
• 1914 – first record of the compound atrapamoscas, from French attrape-mouche.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To catch someone who is running away or moving fast: La policía atrapó al ladrón en la esquina.^[4][1]
2. (transitive, colloquial) To catch something that is hard to catch: Atrapó la pelota con una mano.^[4][15]
3. (transitive, colloquial) To get something useful: Atrapó una beca.^[4][15]
4. (transitive, colloquial) To deceive or lure someone cleverly.^[4]
5. (transitive) To trap, to hold someone fast; to fascinate.^[1][16]
6. (Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, baseball) To catch a ball batted by the other team in the air.^[4][14]

Word family

• atrapado
• atrapamiento
• atrapamoscas
• atrapanovios
• atrapante
• atrapasueños

Related words

• trampa
• French attraper
• English trap

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. 1, 404
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. atrapar
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. atrapar
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. attraper
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. trappe
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 589
8. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. trampa
9. ^ 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. 117
10. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 6820
11. ^ 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. atrapar
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 474
13. ^ a b Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 1, 186
14. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. atrapar
15. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. atrapar
16. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. atrapar