cumplir

Forms

cumplir (first-person singular present cumplo, first-person singular preterite cumplí, past participle cumplido)^[1] Old Spanish often wrote complir or conplir beside cumplir, which already occurs in the manuscript of the Cid; the ⟨u⟩ was the rule from the start in the forms stressed on the stem (cumple).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin compleō (“to fill, complete”); the Old Spanish forms were cumplir and complir.^[2][4][5][1] Wiktionary sets up a Vulgar Latin *complīre, with a change of conjugation to the ⟨-ir⟩ class.^[1]

The same Latin verb is Portuguese cumprir, Galician comprir, Catalan complir and Italian compiere.^[6][1] Portuguese has the same kept cluster in its ⟨pr⟩ form, and Nascentes notes that its ⟨u⟩, as in Spanish, came from the forms stressed on the stem.^[7][1]

The Latin verb is formed from con- and pleō (“to fill”), a verb found only in compounds.^[8][1] Wiktionary, following de Vaan, traces this to *plēō and *pleh₁- (“to fill”).^[1]

The word kept Latin /pl/, where the fully popular development gave /tʃ/, as in henchir from impleō.^[2][1] Corominas does not call it a learned word for this: it belongs with plegar, plañir, claro and flor, which reflect a more conservative pronunciation of the upper classes rather than borrowing from Latin.^[2] The BDELC calls the route semi-learned.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded in the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy), where the participle already has the sense “fulfilled, paid”: „Conplido han el debdo que les mando so señor” “they have done the duty their lord laid on them”.^[9][10] In the same poem it means “to be enough”: „non les cumple lo suyo” “what they have is not enough for them”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Old senses close to the Latin “fill” were “complete, fill the gaps of something”, still in Juan Manuel, and, with a thing as subject, “to be enough”, from Berceo on and still in the 14th century.^[2] From “to be enough” came “to suit, matter” (no cumple “it is not fitting”), recorded by Nebrija and common in the 16th and 17th centuries; it survives in the official formula cúmpleme hacer….^[2][12] Alfonso X already used it of reaching an age, ante que cumplan un anno “before they are a year old”.^[13]

Covarrubias explained the verb as filling up the measure of one's obligation, and recorded cumplir años.^[12] The courtesy sense led to the noun cumplimiento “a compliment offered out of politeness” (1608, Góngora; 1615, the Quijote), which Italian took as complimento and French as compliment (1624).^[2][4] The Academy's dictionaries from 1817 on list military service completed and the end of a term; the DLE marks “to be enough” as no longer used.^[14][5]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has conplido, cumple and cumplir.^[4][9]
• 1202 – the Cortes of Benavente, the first record in a text without a later copy: en cumplida Corte.^[10]
• 1220–1250 – Berceo uses cumplimiento for “abundance”.^[4]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it of reaching an age.^[13]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives complir with Latin compleo and suppleo, and cumple as “it is fitting”.^[15]
• 1608 – cumplimiento “ceremonious offer” first appears, in Góngora.^[4]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records cumplir años and no cumple “it is not fitting”.^[12]
• 1729 – cumpleaños “birthday” first recorded.^[4]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology Latin complere.^[16]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To carry out or fulfil a duty, order, task, wish or promise: Cumplió su palabra.^[5][1]
2. (transitive) To reach a given age or a full number of years or months: Mi hermana cumple veinte años mañana.^[5][1]
3. (transitive) To serve a sentence or a fixed term.^[1][17]
4. (intransitive) To do what one ought to or is bound to: cumplir con su deber.^[5][18]
5. (intransitive) To finish one's term of military service.^[5]
6. (intransitive, also pronominal) Of a period, obligation or deadline: to expire, fall due.^[5]
7. (intransitive) To suit, be fitting, matter.^[5]
8. (intransitive) To meet an obligation of courtesy towards someone;^[5] por cumplir “merely out of politeness”.^[5]
9. (intransitive, obsolete) To be enough.^[5]
10. (pronominal) To come true, be fulfilled: Se cumplieron sus sueños.^[5][1]

Word family

• cumplido
• cumplidor
• cumpleaños
• cumplimiento
• cumplimentar

Related words

• complemento
• completo
• henchir
• Latin compleō
• Portuguese cumprir

Usage notes

Cumplir con is usual for duties and religious or moral precepts, though the verb can also take a direct object there.^[18] The fixed phrase por cumplir means “merely for form's sake”.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 290
3. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. cumplir
4. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cumplir
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. cumplir
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. complere
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. cumprir
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. compleō
9. ^ 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. 837
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. cumplir
11. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando, p. 145
12. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 555
13. ^ a b 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. cumplir
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 266
15. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. cumplir
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 322
17. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. cumplir
18. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cumplir