comprender

Forms

comprender (first-person singular present comprendo, first-person singular preterite comprendí, past participle comprendido)^[1] Old Spanish forms include compreender in Berceo, the preterite compriso in the Libro de Alexandre and the participle comprisa in the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca.^[2] The Latinising spelling comprehender is recorded in the Americas from 1571 to 1625 and is still listed as a variant.^[3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin comprehendō (“to seize; to take in; to grasp mentally”), in its contracted form comprendō.^[2][4][1][5] The DLE derives it from the older Spanish form comprehender.^[6] Corominas treats it with the derivatives of prender “to seize”, the same Latin verb without the prefix.^[2]

The same verb is Italian comprendere, French comprendre, Catalan compendre and Romanian cuprinde (“to contain”).^[7][8]

The Latin verb is made of con- and prehendō (“to grasp, seize”).^[5][1] De Vaan reconstructs a Proto-Indo-European nasal present meaning “to grab”, related to Ancient Greek χανδάνω (khandánō, “to hold, contain”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas finds the participle comprisa “possessed” in the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca and compreender in Berceo.^[2][4] Berceo's Del sacrificio de la misa prays for those who pay for masses que mal no los comprenda “that no harm may reach them”.^[10][11]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century the verb meant “to reach, to come upon”, “to embrace, surround” and “to contain, include”;^[12][10] Alfonso X's Picatrix (1256) speaks of an angel el qui todo lo conprende “who encompasses everything”.^[12][10] The sense “to understand” appears in the Moamín, a 13th-century book on hunting animals.^[12]

The Academy's dictionaries of the 19th century give three senses: to surround, to contain and to understand.^[13][14] The DLE adds a fourth, “to find someone's actions or feelings natural or justified” (comprendo tus dudas), and the reflexive comprenderse is used of people who get on well.^[6][15] In New Mexico comprender also means “to hire”.^[16]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – the first record according to Corominas, in the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca.^[4][2]
• 1228–1246 – Berceo's Del sacrificio de la misa: que mal no los comprenda.^[10]
• 1250 – the Moamín uses conprender for “to include” and “to understand”.^[12]
• 1571 – the first record from the Americas, as comprehender, in Mexico City.^[3]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology comprehendere, from cum and prehendere.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To understand; to grasp the meaning of something: No comprendía las instrucciones.^[6][1]
2. (transitive, also reflexive) To include, contain, comprise: El curso comprende tres módulos.^[6][1]
3. (transitive) To find someone's acts or feelings justified or natural; to sympathise with: Comprendo su enfado.^[6]
4. (transitive) To embrace, encircle, surround something on all sides.^[6]
5. (reciprocal) To get on well together.^[15]

Word family

• comprendedor
• incomprendido

Related words

• comprensión
• prender
• comprensible
• aprender
• comprehender
• English comprehend

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. s.v. prender
3. ^ 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. comprender
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. prender
5. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f 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. comprender
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. comprender
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ 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. comprender
11. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 244
12. ^ 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. comprender
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 179
14. ^ 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. 267
15. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. comprender
16. ^ Cobos, Rubén (1983), A Dictionary of New Mexico and Southern Colorado Spanish, Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press, p. 54