dejar

Forms

dejar (first-person singular present dejo, first-person singular preterite dejé, past participle dejado)^[1] Old Spanish laiscare in the 10th-century glosses, lexar from 1055 and dexar from about 1200; the old spelling dexar is still used in Autoridades.^[2][3][4] Old Spanish also had delexar, in documents of 1198–1245.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish dexar, an alteration of the older lexar, which is inherited from Latin laxō (“to widen; to loosen, slacken”), a derivative of laxus (“loose, slack”).^[2][3][5][1] After Tailhan's study of about a thousand charters it became clear that the form with /l/ was general until about 1200 and the form with /d/ only afterwards.^[2]

The change of /l/ to /d/ has no agreed explanation.^[2][6] Diez derived the verb from dēsinō (“to cease”), an idea abandoned after Tailhan.^[2] Meyer-Lübke thought of the influence of dar, from the frequent pair of imperatives meaning “give or leave”; the DLE and Moliner follow this view.^[2][7][5][8] Schuchardt and Wagner proposed a blend with dēlaxō, which Old Spanish had as delexar, and Ascoli saw in the Spanish verb a shortened form of it.^[2][1] Corominas prefers the influence of the preposition de in the very common construction with an infinitive, “to stop doing something”, since the change happened at different dates in Portuguese, Catalan, Occitan, Sardinian and southern Italian, where the Late Latin verb left no trace, and runs parallel to levantar > devantar.^[2][6]

Forms with /d/ are Portuguese deixar, Galician deixar, Asturian dexar, Aragonese deixar, Catalan deixar and old Sardinian dassare; the other Romance languages keep /l/: Occitan laissar, French laisser, Italian lasciare and Romanian lăsa.^[2][7][1] Old Portuguese leixar and the Catalan lleixar are the older forms with /l/.^[9][6] Spanish later took the Latin verb again as the learned laxar, and relajar from relaxō.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The 10th-century Glosas Emilianenses and Silenses write laiscare, and a document of Santander of 1055 has lexar(e).^[2] The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy) has dexado ha heredades e casas e palacios “he has left estates and houses and palaces”, though Corominas thinks dexar there may be the copyist's modernisation.^[10][2] The first record without a later copy is in the Cortes of León of 1208, of things given or left (dexadas) to churches and monasteries.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose already uses dexar for “to let go”, “to leave out”, “to allow” and “to abandon”.^[11] Cuervo's dictionary of construction devotes a long article to its uses and constructions.^[12]

The etymology itself has a history: Covarrubias derived the verb from Latin desino “with some corruption”, and Autoridades from desinere.^[13][4] The Academy's dictionary gave desinare in 1884 and delejar in 1899; the current DLE starts from lejar and Latin laxare with the influence of dar.^[14][15][5]

In the Canaries, Mexico and Chile dejar or tocar a dejar meant to ring the last bell calling to Mass.^[16][17][18] In the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and other countries the reflexive means “to break up”, of a couple.^[19][20]

Timeline

• 900s – the Glosas Emilianenses and Silenses write laiscare.^[2][3]
• 1055 – a document of Santander has lexar(e).^[2]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has dexado (in a 14th-century copy).^[10][2]
• c. 1180 – the Auto de los Reyes Magos has dexará.^[10][2]
• 1208 – the Cortes of León use dexadas “left (to churches)”.^[10]
• mid-13th century – the last forms with l-.^[2]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses dexar for “to let go” and “to allow”.^[11]
• 1525 – the first record from the Americas, in Mexico City.^[21]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from Latin desino.^[13]
• 1734 – the learned doublet laxar is recorded.^[3]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary derives it from delejar.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. To let go of, put down; to leave in a place: Deja las llaves en la mesa.^[5][1]
2. To leave, go away from someone or something: Dejó el pueblo a los veinte años.^[5][1]
3. To let, allow, not prevent: No la dejaron entrar.^[5][1]
4. To yield a profit: La venta le dejó buen dinero.^[5]
5. To abandon, forsake.^[5][1]
6. To entrust: Dejó a los niños con su abuela.^[5]
7. Of a fever or pain, to leave someone.^[5]
8. To arrange or order something before leaving, for later or for someone else.^[5]
9. To leave alone, not disturb: Déjalo tranquilo.^[5]
10. To leave someone or something in a state: El viaje me dejó agotado.^[5][1]
11. To name, appoint; to leave or bequeath something on leaving or by will.^[5]
12. (Spain) To lend.^[5][1]
13. With de and an infinitive, to stop doing something: Dejó de fumar.^[1]
14. (reflexive) To let oneself go, neglect oneself.^[1][8]

Word family

• dejación
• dejado
• dejadez
• dejamiento
• dejo
• deje

Related words

• laxar
• laxo
• laxante
• relajar
• Latin laxō
• Portuguese deixar

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 h i j k l m n o p q r Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 435
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. dejar
4. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 251
5. ^ 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. dejar
6. ^ a b c 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. 3, 44
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. laxare
8. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. dejar
9. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 1105
10. ^ 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. dejar
11. ^ 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. dejar
12. ^ Cuervo, Rufino José (1886–1893), Diccionario de construcción y régimen de la lengua castellana, vols. I–II (A–D), París: A. Roger y F. Chernoviz, p. 2, 849
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. 666
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 343
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 318
16. ^ Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. dejar
17. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1959), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Porrúa, p. 434
18. ^ Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José, p. 84
19. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. dejar
20. ^ Academia Canaria de la Lengua (2010), Diccionario básico de canarismos, Santa Cruz de Tenerife; online at https://www.academiacanarialengua.org, p. s.v. dejar
21. ^ 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. dejar