consagrar

Forms

consagrar (first-person singular present consagro, first-person singular preterite consagré, past participle consagrado)^[1] Old Spanish also has consegrar (Berceo) and cossagrar.^(DEMel|s.v. consagrar(se))^[2][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish consagrar, inherited from Late Latin cōnsacrō, the Late Latin form of classical Latin cōnsecrō (“to dedicate, consecrate”).^[3][1][4][5] The DLE gives only the classical form.^[6] Wiktionary takes the Spanish form as a remodelling of cossagrar after the prefix con-.^[1] The Old Spanish variant consegrar keeps the vowel of the classical verb.^[4][2]

The Late Latin verb is continued in Portuguese consagrar, Catalan consagrar, Occitan consagrar and Italian consacrare.^[7][8] French consacrer is the Old French loan consecrer, remade under the influence of sacrer.^[9]

The classical verb is formed from con- and sacrō (“to make sacred”), from sacer (“sacred, holy”); the Late Latin form was made anew on the simple verb.^[10][1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The BDELC dates the verb to 1220–1250.^[3] Berceo has it in the Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos (c. 1236, in a late 13th-century copy): porque la su eglesia consagró la tu guía “because your guide consecrated her church”, of a church dedicated to the Virgin.^[2][11] The CDH's earliest hit, in the Cantar de mio Cid, is another verb (see Usage notes).^[12][2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Spanish the verb was used for making a person or thing sacred, anointing a king or bishop, and, from the 14th century, for the priest's saying the words of consecration at Mass.^[11][13] Covarrubias lists the bishops, priests, altars and chalices that are consecrated and explains the priest's consecration of the bread and wine.^[14] The Diccionario de Autoridades added “to dedicate, offer by worship or vow”.^[15]

The secular senses came later: “to devote with great zeal to some purpose” (consagrarse al estudio) and “to confer fame or pre-eminence on” (la novela lo consagró), and, said of an authority, “to recognise or establish firmly”, which Garzón recorded as an Argentine use in 1910.^[6][16]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – first record of the verb, dated by Corominas.^[3]
• c. 1236 – Berceo writes of a church that a monk consagró.^[2]
• 1256–1263 – the Siete Partidas speak of sacred things as those consecrated by archbishops and bishops.^[11]
• 1327–1332 – Juan Manuel uses it for the consecration at Mass.^[11]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin sacro, consecro and dico as its equivalents.^[17]
• 1543 – first record from the Americas, in Panama.^[18]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from Latin consecrare.^[14]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades adds the sense “to dedicate, devote”.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To make sacred; to consecrate a person or thing.^[6][1]
2. (transitive, also pronominal) To bring fame or pre-eminence in some field: Su segundo disco la consagró como cantante.^[6][1]
3. (transitive) Of a competent authority: to recognise or firmly establish something.^[6][1]
4. (transitive, also pronominal) To dedicate or offer a person or thing to God by worship or a vow.^[6]
5. (transitive, also pronominal) To devote something with great zeal to a purpose: Consagró sus últimos años a la pintura.^[6][1]
6. (intransitive, also transitive; religion) Of a Catholic priest: to say the words of the Mass that effect transubstantiation (transustanciación).^[6]

Word family

• consagratorio
• consagración
• consagrado

Related words

• sagrado
• consuegro
• Latin cōnsecrō
• French consacrer

Usage notes

In the Cantar de mio Cid consagrar (conssagrar) is a different verb meaning “to become related by marriage”, as father-in-law and son-in-law;^[12] Menéndez Pidal derives it from a Latin *consocrare, from socer “father-in-law”, with its a taken from the verb “consecrate”.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sagrado
4. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 1835
5. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México
6. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. consagrar
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2155
8. ^ a b Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d 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. 761
12. ^ a b c Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. s.v. consagrar
13. ^ 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)
14. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 502
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 523
16. ^ Garzón, Tobías (1910), Diccionario argentino, Barcelona: Imprenta Elzeviriana de Borrás y Mestres, p. 121
17. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 317
18. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies