averiguar

Forms

averiguar (first-person singular present averiguo, first-person singular preterite averigüé, past participle averiguado)^[1] Old Spanish also had verigar (in the Fuero Juzgo) and veriguar.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish averiguar, inherited from Late Latin vērificō (“to present as true”), taken over in a semi-learned way, with the prefix ad-.^[5][1][6] García de Diego sets up a Vulgar Latin *adverificāre, while Moliner and Gómez de Silva analyse the word as Spanish a- plus the Latin verb.^[7][8][9] The fully learned form of the same Latin verb is verificar, recorded from 1578–1590.^[5]

In Portugal it is Portuguese averiguar, first recorded in the 16th century, beside an older avergar.^[10] Nascentes traces the Portuguese verb from the Latin one through a series of reduced intermediate forms, with a prothetic ⟨a⟩.^[11] The form Asturian abriguar is found in Asturias and in Salamanca.^[12]

The Late Latin verb is formed from vērus (“true”) and faciō (“to make, do”), with the second element as a causative suffix, and is first recorded in the 5th century.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas, following Cuervo, dates the first record to the Fuero Juzgo of 1240.^[5][1] Alonso quotes from it e se le averiguare su suciedad “and if his filthiness is proved against him”.^[13] The CDH's earliest hit is the preterite auerigüé in Hermann the German's translation of the Psalter (c. 1240–1272).^[14]

Semantic evolution

In 13th-century prose the verb meant both “to establish as true, verify” and “to discover”: in Alfonso X's Moamín (1250) a thing is mas aueriguado “more firmly established”, and an astronomical text of 1277 uses ueriguar for finding the true altitude of a star.^[4][14] Covarrubias in 1611 defined it as “to get to the bottom of the truth” and traced it to the Latin adjective for “true”.^[15] Autoridades had the same view.^[15][16] In 1884 the Academy added the colloquial reflexive averiguarse con alguno “to come to terms with someone, keep someone in check”.^[17]

In El Salvador the intransitive verb means “to argue heatedly, protest”, and in Nicaragua and Peru “to be nosy”.^[18][6]

Timeline

• 1240 – first record, in the Fuero Juzgo.^[5]
• c. 1240–1272 – Hermann the German's Psalter has auerigüé.^[14]
• 1250 – the Moamín uses aueriguado “established”.^[4][14]
• 1277 – the form ueriguar in Alfonso X's astronomical works.^[4]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin verifico.^[19]
• 1527 – first record in the Americas, from Nicaragua.^[20]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from Latin verus.^[15]
• 1884 – the Academy gives averiguarse con alguno.^[17]

Meanings

Verb

1. To find out, inquire into the truth of something until one discovers it: Quiero averiguar quién dejó la puerta abierta.^[6][1][8]
2. (El Salvador, Mexico) To argue, protest, talk at length.^[6][1][18]
3. (Nicaragua, Peru) To be nosy, pry.^[18]
4. (reflexive, colloquial) To get along with someone, or to bring someone to reason: Con ese niño no hay quien se averigüe.^[6]

Word family

• averiguable
• averiguación

Related words

• verificar
• verdad
• Late Latin vērificō
• Portuguese averiguar

Usage notes

In the forms with stressed -gue- and -gué the ⟨u⟩ is written ⟨ü⟩ to show it is pronounced: averigüe, averigüé.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 7093
3. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. averiguar
4. ^ 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. averiguar
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 789
6. ^ a b c d e 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. averiguar
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. averiguar
8. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. averiguar
9. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. averiguar
10. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 425
11. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. averiguar
12. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 208
13. ^ 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. 460
14. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. averiguar
15. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 244
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 500
17. ^ 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. 123
18. ^ a b c Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. averiguar
19. ^ 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. averiguar
20. ^ 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. averigar