contar

Forms

contar (first-person singular present cuento, first-person singular preterite conté, past participle contado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin computō (“to calculate, reckon”), formed on putō (“to reckon”) with the prefix com-.^[2][3][4][1] The sense “to tell, narrate”, properly “to recount”, is as old in Spanish as “to count”.^[3][2] Bénaben notes that computare already meant “to narrate” in Medieval Latin.^[5] Archaic forms keep a trace of the unstressed Latin /u/: cuémpetet in the Glosas Emilianenses and cómpetent in an Aragonese document of 1059.^[2] cuntar was very common in the 13th century and is still used in Asturias;^[2][6] Corominas explains it, like Old Leonese cuentar, by the spread of the diphthong of the stressed forms (⟨cuenta⟩) to the rest of the verb.^[2][6] An old variant condar also existed.^[2][7]

The same Latin verb is Portuguese contar, Galician contar, Asturian contar, Catalan comptar, contar and Italian contare.^[7][8][1] French compter “to reckon” and conter “to tell” are distinguished in spelling.^[8] Old Catalan wrote both senses alike, mostly Old Catalan comptar or comtar.^[8][9]

The simple verb meant “to prune, scour” and “to make up accounts, think”; de Vaan takes the adjective putus (“pure, genuine”) as the base of the family, from *pHu-tó-.^[10] Wiktionary calls the root uncertain, with an original meaning probably “cut off”.^[1] The learned doublet is computar, recorded in 1573.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Both senses appear from the first texts.^[2] In the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) contar means “to count” (sean contados) and is common in phrases for things too many to count; it also means “to tell, narrate”, as in „vuestras buenas mañas quien las podría contar?” “who could tell all your good deeds?”.^[11] The participle contado in the Cid also means “famous”, literally one of whom many deeds are told.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's Lapidario (1250–1279) uses the verb for counting degrees of the zodiac.^[12] Covarrubias (1611) gives counting money and cattle and telling an event, and records the phrase contar las vigas “to look up at the ceiling”, said of someone pretending not to notice what goes on, and the proverb cada uno cuenta de la feria como le va en ella.^[13] Autoridades notes the change of o to ue in the stressed forms (yo cuento) and adds the senses “to do sums” and “to put into an account”.^[14]

In 1884 the Academy's dictionary listed contar con “to rely on” and “to keep someone in mind”.^[15] Today the verb also means to be a given number of years old, to count as or be worth, and to matter.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses contar for “to count” and “to tell”.^[2][3][11]
• c. 1140 – the noun cuenta is first recorded;^[3][2] cuento follows in 1200.^[3][2]
• 1201 – the earliest record in the Old Spanish Textual Archive.^[16]
• 1268 – the derivative descontar is first recorded.^[3][2]
• 1362 – contador “accountant” is first recorded, with the spelling cu-.^[3][2]
• 1573 – the learned doublet computar appears.^[3]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records contar las vigas and a proverb with the verb.^[13]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades notes the alternation contar / cuento.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary lists contar con “to rely on”.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. To count: to number things as units of the same kind: Contó las monedas dos veces.^[4][15]
2. To tell, narrate an event, true or invented: Cuéntame qué pasó ayer.^[4][1]
3. To take into account, consider.^[4]
4. To include someone among a group or class; also pronominal: Lo cuento entre mis maestros.^[4]
5. To be a given number of years old: Mi abuela contaba noventa años.^[4]
6. (intransitive) To do sums by the rules of arithmetic.^[4][14]
7. (intransitive) To count as, be worth: Esta prueba cuenta por dos.^[4]
8. (intransitive) To matter: Su opinión no cuenta.^[4]
9. (contar con) To rely on; to have at one's disposal: La biblioteca cuenta con diez mil libros.^[4][15]

Word family

• contador
• descontar
• incontable
• cuento
• contable
• cuentachistes
• cuentacuentos
• cuentagotas
• cuentakilómetros
• cuenta
• contaduría
• recontar
• descuento
• contado

Related words

• contabilidad
• computar
• cómputo
• Latin computo
• Portuguese contar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 180
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. contar
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. contar
5. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. contar
6. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 534
7. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 1791
8. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. computāre
9. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 2, 857
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. putō
11. ^ a b Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 182
12. ^ 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. contar
13. ^ 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. 505
14. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 546
15. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 283
16. ^ Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org, p. s.v. contar