consigo

Etymology

It continues inherited from Latin sēcum (“with oneself”), reinforced with a second cum (“with”).^[2][1][3] The Latin word is the reflexive pronoun sē with the preposition placed after it.^[1][4] Wiktionary explains that once the Latin form had developed into *sigo, its ending was no longer felt to be a preposition, so it was strengthened with the preposition again.^[1] Gómez de Silva points out that the Spanish word thus contains the Latin preposition twice.^[4]

Corominas describes it as a compound of con and the old sigo, which comes from the Latin word with the vowel of the pronoun sí.^[5] García de Diego also gives Old Spanish sego, and explains the vowel of the form with /i/ by the influence of ti and sí.^[6] Gómez de Silva adds the influence of conmigo and contigo.^[4] The simple form without the preposition survived in Old Galician-Portuguese.^[5]

The Latin pronoun continues a Proto-Indo-European reflexive pronoun, Proto-Indo-European *se in de Vaan's reconstruction and *swé in Wiktionary's.^[7][1] The preposition goes back to *ḱóm (“next to, with”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas finds the first record in the Glosas Silenses, of the second half of the 10th century, where consico kisieret tenere glosses Latin secum retinere voluerit “should wish to keep with him”.^[5] In the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140) the Cid does not buy bread and wine, ca él se lo avié consigo “for he had it with him”.^[8][3][9]

Semantic evolution

From the 12th to the 15th century the word served, as now, as the form of the reflexive sí after con, for singular and plural, masculine and feminine.^[3] Old Spanish used it in the phrase dar consigo en, as in the 13th-century Gospel of Matthew, where the swine dieron consigo en el mar “threw themselves into the sea”.^[3] Old Galician-Portuguese poetry still used sigo alone: King Denis writes e sempre sigo tem o meu “and he always has mine with him”.^[5]

Nebrija, Covarrubias and the Diccionario de Autoridades treat consigo as an adverb, the equivalent of Latin secum.^[10][11][12] Autoridades adds the sense “together, in company” and quotes Saint Teresa's trahen consigo gran sustento “they bring great sustenance with them”.^[12] The Academy in 1884 called it a pleonastic form of con and Latin secum, and the DLE now classes it as a personal pronoun.^[13][2]

Timeline

• 950–1000 – the Glosas Silenses have consico.^[5]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has consigo.^[8][9]
• 1218–1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes has lieue consigo “let him take with him”.^[8]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario speaks of a stone carried consigo.^[14]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin secum as its equivalent.^[10]
• 1518 – the first record from the Americas, in Tierra Firme.^[15]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from Latin secum.^[11]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary calls it a pleonastic form of con and Latin secum.^[13]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. With himself, herself, itself, themselves, or with usted or ustedes: the form of the reflexive pronoun sí after the preposition con: La abuela nunca sale sin el paraguas consigo.^[2][16][1]
2. (consigo mismo) With or to oneself, especially after verbs such as hablar: Murmuraba consigo mismo en el pasillo.^[17][18]

Related words

• sí
• con
• conmigo
• contigo
• Latin sēcum

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include traer consigo “to bring with it, entail”, no tenerlas todas consigo “to be uneasy” and dar consigo en el suelo “to fall down”.^[17][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. consigo
3. ^ 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. 764
4. ^ a b c Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. consigo
5. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 235
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 6013
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ 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. consigo
9. ^ a b Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 137
10. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 317
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 529
13. ^ 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. 280
14. ^ 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. consigo
15. ^ 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. consigo
16. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. consigo
17. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. consigo
18. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. consigo