despachar

Forms

despachar (first-person singular present despacho, first-person singular preterite despaché, past participle despachado)^[1]

Etymology

For Corominas it is borrowed from Old French despeechier (“to free from hindrance”), which came through Old Occitan despachar; the Academy also derives it from the Old French verb.^[2][3][4][1] The French verb was made from empeechier (“to hinder”) (modern French empêcher) by replacing its prefix with the negative one.^[2][5] The Old French verb is a semi-learned outcome of Late Latin impedicāre (“to fetter, entangle”), from pedica (“fetter”), a derivative of pēs (“foot”).^[2][6][1] It survives as modern dépêcher, and Spanish empachar “to hinder; to give indigestion” has the same Occitan and French route.^[2][3]

The late date of the Spanish word supports a foreign origin.^[2] Corominas rejects an Italian source, since the verb entered as a term of trade and administration.^[2] García de Diego proposed instead Vulgar Latin *expediare, from expediō (“to free, disentangle”), and lists Carolina Michaëlis's *dispactiare “to undo the agreement”.^[7] The Academy derived it from dis- and spatior (“to walk about”) in 1899, Alemany from the same prefix and pactum (“agreement”).^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is the Embajada a Tamorlán of González de Clavijo (1406–1412), and the verb is frequent throughout the 15th century.^[2][3] The CDH has earlier hits, a Crónica de Sahagún dated c. 1255 and a Murcian document of 1333, and Corominas notes that a supposed example in Juan Ruiz is really despechados, of doubtful sense.^[2][10][2] The Aragonese form espachar “to clear, get through quickly” is used by Fernández de Heredia in 1379–1385 (espachar el camino).^[10]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is “to settle, get through quickly”, of a business or a task; from it came “to send off” (a messenger, letters), “to dismiss” and “to sell”.^[4][11] Covarrubias (1611) defines it as getting free of an obstacle and adds that it sometimes means “to kill” and “to send a messenger with letters”.^[12] Cuervo documents the classical use “to let someone go with the answer they were waiting for”, in Saint Teresa and the Quijote.^[13] In 1869 the Academy added the sense of a shopkeeper serving customers.^[14] In several Spanish American countries despacharse also means to eat or drink greedily.^[15]

Timeline

• 1379–1385 – Fernández de Heredia uses the Aragonese form espachar.^[10]
• 1406–1412 – González de Clavijo, Corominas's first record.^[2][3]
• 1527 – the first record in the Americas, at Santa Marta.^[16]
• 1545 – the first record of the noun despacho.^[3]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records the senses “to kill” and “to send a messenger”.^[12]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades defines it as finishing a business quickly.^[11]
• 1869 – the Academy adds the sense “to serve in a shop”.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. To finish a business or task quickly; to deal with or settle a matter.^[4][1]
2. To send a person or a thing somewhere; to ship.^[4][1]
3. To sell goods; of a shop assistant, to serve a customer.^[4][1]
4. To dismiss, send away or get rid of someone.^[4][1]
5. (colloquial) To kill, do away with.^[4][1]
6. (intransitive) To hurry up.^[4]
7. (reflexive, colloquial) To say whatever one likes: despacharse a gusto.^[4]
8. (reflexive, Latin America) To eat or drink greedily.^[15]

Word family

• despachaderas
• despachador
• despachante
• despacho

Related words

• empachar
• French dépêcher

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 568
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. empachar
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. despachar
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. dépêcher
6. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. despachar
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 2568
8. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 344
9. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 570
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. despachar
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 206
12. ^ 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. 660
13. ^ 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, 1126
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 269
15. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. despachar
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. despachar