decir

Forms

decir (first-person singular present digo, first-person singular preterite dije, past participle dicho)^[1] Old Spanish wrote dezir (also decir, desir), with the future diré beside archaic dizré and dizdrá.^[2][3] Leonese and Asturian have dicer beside dicir, and Leonese texts have the old participle decho.^[2][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish dezir, inherited from Latin dīcere (“to say”).^[2][5][6][1] Only Castilian and some Galician dialects moved the verb into the conjugation in ⟨-ir⟩: Portuguese dizer and Asturian dicer keep the Latin third conjugation, and Catalan dir continues a contracted Vulgar Latin *dicre.^[2] The change is already complete in the Cantar de mio Cid and the Auto de los Reyes Magos.^[2] The participle dicho owes its ⟨ch⟩ to the archaic Leonese participle decho, from dictus, and its ⟨i⟩ to forms like digo and dice.^[2]

The same Latin verb is French dire, Italian dire, Romanian zice, Galician dicir and Asturian dicir.^[7][4][1]

The Latin verb goes back to *deikō, from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to show, point out”).^[1] Its cognates are Oscan 𐌃𐌄𐌝𐌊𐌖𐌌 (deíkum, “to say”), Sanskrit दिशति (diśáti, “to show”) and Ancient Greek δείκνυμι (deíknumi, “to show”).^[8][1] Only Latin and the other Italic languages narrowed the meaning to showing by words, saying.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DCECH dates the verb to the Glosas Emilianenses and other texts of the beginnings of the language.^[2][5] In the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) the people of Burgos weep and „de las sus bocas todos dizían una razón: —¡Dios, qué buen vassallo, si oviesse buen señor!” “with one voice they all said: God, what a good vassal, if only he had a good lord!”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Old Spanish already used dezir for “say”, “call, name” (dizien le Yhuda Mosca) and “assert”, and also for “ask” and for composing verse.^[11][3] The senses “ask, beg” and “compose verse” are labelled obsolete in the Academy's dictionaries from 1817.^[12][6] Autoridades distinguishes decir from hablar: parrots speak but do not say.^[13] The Academy's dictionaries from 1817 also record decir bien or mal of things that suit or do not suit one another, and of luck at cards or in the harvest.^[12][6]

The nominalised infinitive el decir is found in a 13th-century Bible manuscript.^[2] Already in the Libro de buen amor a decir could be a poem; the Academy describes the old decir as a short poem not meant to be sung.^[3][14][15] In El Salvador, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela decir a means “to start to” (dijo a correr).^[6][16]

Timeline

• c. 950 – the Glosas Emilianenses, the DCECH's first record.^[2][5]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses dezir with the -ir conjugation.^[2][10]
• c. 1180 – the Auto de los Reyes Magos: „non sé qué digo” “I don't know what I am saying”.^[10]
• 13th century – first record of the noun el decir.^[2]
• 1494 – first record in the Americas, from Santo Domingo.^[17]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records dezir verdad, desdezirse and dezidor.^[18]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades sets decir apart from hablar.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology “Del lat. dicĕre”.^[19]

Meanings

Verb

1. To say, to tell: to express a thought in words: Dime qué piensas.^[6][1]
2. To state, maintain, give one's opinion.^[6][1]
3. To call, to name: En el pueblo le dicen el Rubio.^[6][1]
4. To show, reveal: Su cara decía su cansancio.^[6]
5. Of a book or text: to say, contain.^[6][1]
6. (intransitive, with bien or mal) To suit or not suit, go well or badly with something.^[6]
7. (intransitive, of the cards, the year, the harvest) To turn out favourable or not.^[6]
8. (reflexive) To say to oneself, think: Me dije que no volvería.^[6]
9. (El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, colloquial) To start to do something.^[6]
10. (hunting) Of a dog: to give tongue, bark on a scent.^[6]
11. (obsolete) To ask, beg; to compose verse.^[6]

Noun

1. A saying, a word or set of words.^[15][1]
2. (often plural) A notable saying, a maxim or witty remark.^[15][20]
3. (obsolete) A short poem not meant to be sung.^[15]

Word family

• dicho
• decidor
• desdecir
• contradecir
• predecir
• entredicho
• antedicho
• sobredicho
• indecible
• redecir
• condecir
• dizque
• dimes y diretes

Related words

• bendecir
• dechado
• dicaz
• dicción
• diccionario
• dicha
• dictador
• dictar
• dicterio
• dita
• maldecir
• Latin dīcō
• Portuguese dizer

Usage notes

Es decir “that is to say”, querer decir “to mean” and dimes y diretes “bickering” (from 1609) are common set phrases.^[1][5] Old Spanish had a separate verb decir “to come down, dismount” (in the Cid), from Latin decidere or decedere.^[21][22][23]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 431
3. ^ a b c Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 190
4. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. dicere
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. decir
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. decir
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. dire
10. ^ 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. decir
11. ^ 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. decir
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 278
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 35
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 244
15. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. decir
16. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. decir
17. ^ 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. decir
18. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 637
19. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 339
20. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. decir
21. ^ Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 165
22. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. decedere
23. ^ 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. decir3