donar

Forms

donar (first-person singular present dono, first-person singular preterite doné, past participle donado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dōnō (“to give as a present, bestow”).^[2][3][4][1] Corominas notes that it may be an old semi-learned word, but the popular development of Portuguese doar and Galician doar supports an inherited base.^[2] The Vox dictionary calls it an inherited word.^[5]

The same word is Catalan donar, Occitan donar, French donner and Italian donare.^[6][7] In French, Occitan and Catalan it took over the field of the verb “to give”, and Corominas suspects the same happened in part of Aragon, judging by some old fueros, although their text shows traces of a Gascon or Catalan model.^[2] In Castilian dar kept that field, and the Spanish verb became a word of the law and of formal language.^[8][9]

The Latin verb is formed from dōnum (“gift”).^[10][1] This continues Proto-Italic *dōnom, from Proto-Indo-European *déh₃nom, a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *deh₃- (“to give”), the root of dō (“to give”).^[11][1] Oscan and Venetic verbs meaning “bestows” and “gave” may point to a Proto-Italic verb, although de Vaan considers that each language may have formed it separately.^[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Glosas Silenses, of the second half of the 10th century, use the verb three times; in one gloss donatu siegan translates the Latin sponsi tradantur “let the betrothed be handed over”.^[2] Corominas also cites the Fuero de Avilés, Berceo, the Libro de Apolonio and Juan Ruiz.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Palencia used it of an inheritance donada por testamiento “given by will”, and Nebrija defined it as dar gracioso “to give freely”.^[2][12] Alfonso X's prose has the sense of giving something freely, or a right over it.^[13] The Diccionario de Autoridades noted that it was used mostly in legal language, and the Academy's 1817 edition spoke of transferring ownership “usually with the legal formalities”.^[14][15] In the Americas it appears in notarial formulas such as vender ny dar ny donar “sell, give or donate” (Peru, 1541).^[16]

The senses of donating blood or an organ, in life or for transplant after death, are recorded in the Academy's dictionary by 2001.^[17][4] Judeo-Spanish has the verb for “to make a gift of”, but it is rarely used.^[18]

Timeline

• 950–1000 – the Glosas Silenses, the first record.^[2][3]
• 1272–1275 – Alfonso X's General Estoria speaks of gifts donado to the Israelites by the Egyptians.^[13]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija defines it as “to give freely”.^[12]
• 1541 – the first record from the Americas, in Peru.^[16]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades notes that it is chiefly a legal word.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology, from Latin donare.^[19]
• 2001 – the Academy's dictionary records the donation of blood and organs.^[17]

Meanings

Verb

1. To donate: to give something, or a right over it, freely to another: Donó su biblioteca a la universidad.^[4][1]
2. Of a living person: to give blood, an organ and the like voluntarily for people who need it.^[4]
3. To arrange for one's organs to be used for transplant after death.^[4]
4. To authorize the use of a dead relative's organs for transplant.^[4]

Word family

• donante
• donador
• donado

Related words

• dar
• Portuguese doar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 414
3. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. donar
4. ^ a b c d e f 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. donar
5. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. donar
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 2345
8. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses
9. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. donar
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 338
13. ^ 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. donar
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 335
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 335
16. ^ 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. donar
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. donar
18. ^ Nehama, Joseph (1977), Dictionnaire du judéo-espagnol, Madrid: CSIC, p. s.v. donar
19. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 399