considerar

Forms

considerar (first-person singular present considero, first-person singular preterite consideré, past participle considerado)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cōnsīderō (“to examine attentively”), a learned word.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The same Latin verb gave popular forms elsewhere: Catalan consirar, Aragonese cosirar, Old Galician-Portuguese consiirar and Old French consirer.^[5][6][7]

Cōnsīderō is formed from con- and sīdus (“star, constellation”).^[8][9][10] Corominas thinks it first meant “to examine the stars for omens”, and the DHLF takes it for an old word of the augurs or of sailors, like contemplor.^[2][7] De Vaan reports another view, of Rix and Nyman: the noun first meant “mark, target”, and the verb meant “to concentrate on a goal”.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word to the end of the 14th century, in Pero López de Ayala.^[2][3] In his Rimado de Palacio (1385) a man en el grant poder de Dios mucho consideraba “thought much on the great power of God”.^[11] Earlier records are in Aragonese: the Vidal Mayor (c. 1250) has considerando of a judge weighing the sum claimed.^[12][13]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija about 1495 gives Latin considero and animadverto.^[14] Covarrubias in 1611 defines it as thinking things over carefully, and repeats Festus's derivation from watching the stars.^[15] The Diccionario de Autoridades in 1729 gives the same sense, to think and reflect with care.^[16]

The Academy's dictionary of 1884 first adds the sense “to treat a person with respect”.^[17] The 2001 edition adds “to judge, deem”, also reflexive.^[18] Moliner notes a newer use for “to take into account, not rule out”, perhaps under English influence.^[19] The derivative reconsiderar began in the Americas, in Colombia and elsewhere.^[2]

Timeline

• 1385 – López de Ayala's Rimado de Palacio, Corominas's first record.^[11][2]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin considero.^[14]
• 1539 – first record from the Americas, in New Granada.^[20]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from watching the stars.^[15]
• 1884 – the Academy adds the sense “to treat with respect”.^[17]
• 2001 – the Academy adds “to judge, deem”.^[18]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To consider: to think about something carefully: Hay que considerar bien la propuesta.^[4][1]
2. (transitive) To regard, deem: to think that someone or something is as stated: La consideran la mejor candidata.^[4][1]
3. (transitive) To pay attention to someone or something.^[4]
4. (transitive) To hold someone in high esteem and treat them with respect.^[4]
5. (reflexive) To regard oneself as: Se considera afortunado.^[18][1]

Word family

• considerable
• consideración
• considerando
• desconsiderado
• reconsiderar
• desconsiderar

Related words

• sideral
• desiderátum
• Latin sidus
• English consider

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. 5, 239
3. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. considerar
4. ^ 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. considerar
5. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 1838
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. considerare
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. considerar
11. ^ 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. 764
12. ^ Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. considerar
13. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. considerar
14. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 317
15. ^ 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. 503
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2
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. 279
18. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. considerar
19. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. considerar
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. considerar