dudar

Forms

dudar (first-person singular present dudo, first-person singular preterite dudé, past participle dudado)^[1] Old Spanish dubdar was the usual form until the 15th century;^[2][3] dudar is found in 14th-century manuscripts, as in Juan Ruiz.^[2][3] Leonese texts have a popular dobdar and the variants duldar and dultar, with the Leonese treatment of a /b/ before a consonant.^[2][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish dubdar, inherited from Latin dubitō (“to waver, to doubt”), taken over at an early date.^[2][3][5][1] The Latin verb comes from dubius (“wavering, doubtful”), itself from duo (“two”), after the two alternatives between which one doubts.^[2][3] Wiktionary describes the Latin verb as probably a frequentative of the rare dubō, from Proto-Indo-European *dwi- (“two-”) and Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to be”).^[1]

The same Latin verb is Portuguese duvidar, Galician dubidar, Catalan dubtar, Occitan dobtar, French douter and Italian dubitare.^[4][6][2] Corominas finds it surprising that so basic a verb should be a learned word when the French and Occitan verbs are popular ones.^[2] He considers whether the /u/ of the verb could come from the following /b/, through an earlier *doudar, which would make it inherited, but since the Italian, Catalan and Portuguese verbs are clearly semi-learned, he thinks the Castilian one probably is too.^[2] A popular Old Leonese dobdar did exist, with the noun dolda in charters of 1272 and 1282.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest hit in the CDH is in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy), with the sense “doubt, disbelieve”: Odio Jacob e dubdo en su coraçon e no los creye “Jacob heard it and doubted in his heart and did not believe them”.^[7] Corominas and the BDELC date the first record to Berceo (1220–1250), as dubdar.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Because Latin dubius could already mean “critical, dangerous”, the verb took the sense “to fear” in Romance.^[2] This is usual in Gallo-Romance and was current throughout medieval Castilian, in Berceo, the Libro de Alexandre, Juan Ruiz and López de Ayala, and down to the early 17th century.^[2][8] The transitive construction, which the other Romance languages lack, was common in the Golden Age even with a noun as object; today it is mostly limited to clauses (dudo que, dudo si) and the pronoun lo.^[2][9]

The Diccionario de Autoridades explained that the older dubdar was closer to Latin and that usage had since dropped the b.^[10] The Academy's 1884 edition defined it as being undecided between contrary judgements and, transitively, as giving little credit to what one hears.^[11] The DLE now gives three senses: to be in doubt about something, to hesitate between choices, and to distrust someone.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – dubdo “he doubted” in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar, in a 13th-century copy.^[7]
• 1218–c. 1250 – dubdare in the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes, the first CDH hit without a later copy.^[7]
• 1220–1250 – Berceo uses dubdar, the first record for Corominas.^[2][3]
• c. 1250 – the Libro de Apolonio has dubdar in the senses “to hesitate” and “to fear”.^[8]
• 14th century – the form dudar in manuscripts of Juan Ruiz.^[2]
• 1513 – Nebrija gives Latin dubito and ambigo.^[12]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades notes that dubdar has given way to dudar.^[10]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary first gives the etymology, from Latin dubitare.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To doubt, to be uncertain about something: Lo dudé un buen rato antes de firmar.^[5][1]
2. (intransitive, also transitive) To hesitate between one course and another: Duda entre estudiar medicina o derecho.^[5][13]
3. (intransitive) To distrust or suspect someone or something: Nadie duda de su honradez.^[5]

Word family

• duda
• dudoso
• dudable
• indudable

Related words

• dubitativo
• indubitable
• Latin dubitō
• French douter

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 527
3. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. dudar
4. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. dubitare
5. ^ a b c d e 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. dudar
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. dubitare
7. ^ 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. dudar
8. ^ a b Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 200
9. ^ 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, 1333
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 346
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 402
12. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 338
13. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. dudar