declarar

Forms

declarar (first-person singular present declaro, first-person singular preterite declaré, past participle declarado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish declarar, borrowed from Latin dēclārō (“to make clear; to make known”).^[2][3][4][1] Corominas treats it as a learned word, listed under claro, and dates it to Berceo.^[2][3]

The Latin verb is dē- with clārō (“to make clear”), from clārus (“clear, bright; loud”).^[5][1][6] De Vaan traces the adjective to *klāro- (“loud”) and *klh₁-ro- (“loud, sonorous”), with the same shift from “loud” to “clear, bright” as in hel.^[7]

The same Latin verb was borrowed as Portuguese declarar, Catalan declarar, French déclarer and Italian dichiarare.^{[8][9][10][1]} Old Galician-Portuguese also had a form with ⟨r⟩, Old Galician-Portuguese decrarar.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is in Berceo, where the Tentative Dictionary glosses it “to explain”.^[2][12] The earliest dated texts in the CDH are the Libro de los doce sabios (c. 1237, in a copy of about 1400), las cosas que los sabios dizen e declaran “the things the wise say and explain”, and the Fueros de Aragón of 1247, where the lawgivers say declaramos special mientre “we declare in particular”.^[13]

Semantic evolution

In Old Spanish the main sense was “to make plain what is hidden or not understood”: in the Calila e Dimna (1251) a king asks his sages to interpret a vision, and Alfonso X's prose uses the verb for explaining a point already set out in another book.^[13][14] Nebrija gave the Latin expono and explano for it, and Covarrubias defined it as making known what was hidden or obscure.^[15][16]

The Diccionario de Autoridades separated three senses: to make known, to expound or interpret, and, in law, the decision of a judge or authority.^[17] The Academy's 1843 edition added the witness's testimony under oath and the reflexive “to reveal one's intention”, and Domínguez in 1846 recorded declarar la guerra “to declare war”.^[18][19] Gaspar y Roig recorded the sailors' declararse el viento, of a wind that settles in direction and strength.^[20] Later dictionaries added the tax return, the customs declaration and declararse “to declare one's love”.^[21][4][22]

The first records from the Americas are legal: in 1539 in Tabasco and in 1550 in Panama, where a man is declared a traitor.^[23]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – Berceo uses it for “to explain”.^[2][3][12]
• c. 1237 – the Libro de los doce sabios (in a later copy).^[13]
• 1247 – the Fueros de Aragón uses the legal declaramos.^[13]
• 1251 – the Calila e Dimna (in a later copy) uses it for interpreting a vision.^[13]
• 1438 – first record of the noun declaración.^[3]
• 1539 – first record from the Americas, in Tabasco.^[23]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as revealing what was hidden.^[16]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades adds the legal sense of a judge's decision.^[17]
• 1846 – Domínguez records declarar la guerra.^[19]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology and the intransitive “to testify”.^[24]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To make known, to declare publicly: El ministro declaró que no habría más recortes.^[4][1]
2. (transitive) Of an authority, to pronounce a decision on the state of someone or something: El tribunal la declaró inocente.^[4]
3. (transitive) To declare income or goods to the tax or customs authorities.^[4][22]
4. (intransitive, law) To testify before a court or authority: Tres vecinos declararon ante la jueza.^[4][1]
5. (reflexive) To reveal one's mind or intention.^[4]
6. (reflexive) Of a fire, an epidemic or the like, to break out.^[4][1]
7. (reflexive) To declare one's love to someone.^[4][1]
8. (reflexive) To state one's own position or condition: declararse en huelga.^[4][1]
9. (reflexive, nautical) Of the wind, to settle in direction, character and strength.^[4]

Word family

• declaración
• declarante
• declarativo

Related words

• claro
• aclarar
• esclarecer
• preclaro
• Latin dēclārō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 95
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. claro
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. declarar
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. dēclārō
6. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 216
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. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. declarar
9. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. declarar
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. déclarer
11. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. declarar
12. ^ 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. 165
13. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. declarar
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. declarar
15. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 328
16. ^ 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. 637
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 38
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 228
19. ^ a b Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 544
20. ^ Gaspar y Roig (eds.) (1853–1855), Biblioteca ilustrada de Gaspar y Roig: Diccionario enciclopédico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Imprenta y Librería de Gaspar y Roig, p. 1, 737
21. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. declarar
22. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. declarar
23. ^ a b 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. declarar
24. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 340