descargar

Forms

descargar (first-person singular present descargo, first-person singular preterite descargué, past participle descargado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin discarricō (“to unload”), from carricō (“to load”), from carrus (“wagon”).^[2][1][3] García de Diego finds the Late Latin verb in the glossaries, and Medieval Latin texts use it for unloading.^[4][5] Corominas lists it instead among the derivatives of cargar, and Autoridades calls it a compound of the prefix des- and that verb.^[6][7][8]

The same word is Portuguese descarregar, Catalan descarregar, Occitan descargar, Italian discaricare and Romanian descărca.^[1][4] In Latin the wagon's name was a Gaulish word, from Proto-Celtic *karros.^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is La fazienda de Ultra Mar (about 1200, in a 13th-century copy), in the biblical story of the cup found in Benjamin's sack: descargaron e abrieron los sacos “they unloaded and opened the sacks”.^[10][11] Corominas dates the word to Berceo.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Already in Berceo the word is figurative: confessed sinners will find themselves descargados, freed of the burden of their sins.^[10] Calila e Dimna (1251) speaks of relief at casting off a heavy load, and Alfonso X's General estoria of unloading camels.^[10][12] Covarrubias (1611) records rain falling heavily (descargar el cielo), clearing one's conscience by restitution, striking a blow, rivers flowing into the sea, and descargarse “to clear oneself of charges”.^[13]

Autoridades (1732) adds the butcher's sense, trimming the flank and bone from a loin, and removing the charge from a firearm.^[8] The Academy's dictionary of 1884 also has firing a gun and a cloud's emptying itself in rain or hail.^[14] Modern senses are the discharge of an electric charge and, in computing, the transfer of data from one system to another, “to download”.^[2][1] In Mexico and the Dominican Republic it also means to defecate, and in Cuba, Puerto Rico and Venezuela to scold.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – descargaron in La fazienda de Ultra Mar.^[10][11]
• 1220–1250 – Berceo uses the word, Corominas's first record.^[7][10]
• 1255 – the Fuero Real allows people to unload and rest there for a day or two.^[10]
• 1475 – the derivative descargo is recorded.^[7]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin exonero as its equivalent.^[16]
• 1516 – first record from the Americas, in Darién.^[17]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records the senses of rain, conscience, blows and rivers.^[13]
• 1732 – Autoridades adds the butcher's and the firearms senses.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To unload, remove or lighten a load: Descargamos el camión antes de comer.^[2][1]
2. (transitive) To trim meat, especially a loin, of its flank and part of the bone.^[2]
3. (transitive) To fire a firearm.^[2][1]
4. (transitive) To remove the charge from a firearm or a blast-hole.^[2]
5. (transitive, also reflexive) To discharge an electric charge, especially a battery.^[2][1]
6. (transitive, also intransitive) To deal a blow violently.^[2]
7. (transitive) To vent one's bad temper by mistreating someone.^[2]
8. (transitive) To release someone from a charge or obligation.^[2]
9. (transitive, computing) To download data.^[2][1]
10. (intransitive) Of a river: to flow into the sea or a lake.^[2]
11. (intransitive) Of a cloud: to break into rain or hail.^[2]
12. (reflexive) To give up one's post.^[2]
13. (reflexive) To shirk the duties of one's post by handing them to someone else.^[2]
14. (transitive, Mexico, Dominican Republic) To defecate.^[15]
15. (transitive, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Venezuela) To scold someone.^[15]

Word family

• descarga
• descargo
• descargadero
• descargador

Related words

• cargar
• carga
• carro
• Latin carrus

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 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. descargar
3. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México
4. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
5. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 868
7. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cargar
8. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 125
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE
11. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock
12. ^ 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)
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. 652
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. 358
15. ^ a b c Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer
16. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 330
17. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies