denegar

Forms

denegar (first-person singular present deniego, first-person singular preterite denegué, past participle denegado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish denegar, inherited from Latin dēnegāre (“to deny; to refuse”).^[2][1][3] The same Latin verb is Portuguese denegar, Occitan denegar, French dénier and Italian dinegare.^[4]

The Latin verb is formed with dē- and negō (“to deny”).^[5][1] Bénaben and Covarrubias take the prefix as an intensive.^[6][7] The simple verb itself is built on the negative ne, perhaps through nec.^[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Breve diccionario dates the first record 1220–1250.^[9] The Tentative Dictionary's first source is Berceo, whose Milagros say of the Virgin no l serié denegada ninguna petición “no request of hers would be refused”.^[3][10] The Fuero de Madrid, which DEMel dates 1158–1202 and the CDH knows from a copy of the first half of the 13th century, already has the form denegue “let him deny”, of words spoken in a quarrel.^[11][10]

Semantic evolution

Old Spanish used it both for refusing a request and for denying or renouncing someone: the Fuero Real punishes a son who denegare his father, and in Berceo's Martirio de San Lorenzo the emperor wants to make Christians a Christo denegar “deny Christ”.^[10] The legal Fuero viejo de Castilla (1356) explains the phrase venir de niego as denegar.^[10]

Covarrubias noted in 1611 that it was a term of the courts.^[7] The Diccionario de Autoridades gave the modern sense, “not to grant what is asked”, with quotations from the Recopilación of the laws, and noted the irregular present deniego.^[12] Terreros recorded denegar en justicia “to dismiss a claim”.^[13] Today it belongs to administrative and legal language, of permits, appeals and requests.^[14][15]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – first record, in Berceo.^[9][3]
• 1270–1284 – Alfonso X's Estoria de España has denego de enuiar les ayuda “he refused to send them help”.^[10]
• 1529 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico City.^[16]
• 1604 – first record of denegación.^[9]
• 1611 – Covarrubias calls it a term of the courts.^[7]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it “not to grant what is asked”.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology “Del lat. denegare”.^[17]

Meanings

Verb

1. To refuse, turn down: not to grant what is asked or applied for: El ayuntamiento le denegó el permiso de obra.^[2][1]
2. To say no; to deny: Denegó con un gesto.^[15][1]

Word family

• denegatorio
• denegación

Related words

• negar
• renegar
• Latin dēnegō

Usage notes

It is irregular like negar: deniego, deniega, deniegue.^[12][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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. denegar
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. s.v. denegar
4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. dēnegāre
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. dēnegō
6. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. denegar
7. ^ 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. 646
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. negō
9. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. negar
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. denegar
11. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. denegar
12. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 69
13. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 1, 607
14. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. denegar
15. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. denegar
16. ^ 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. denegar
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 346