embarcar

Forms

embarcar (first-person singular present embarco, first-person singular preterite embarqué, past participle embarcado)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish en- + barca (“boat”) + -ar; the DLE derives it from the same prefix and barco.^[2][3][4][1] Corominas dates it to about 1440, in Gutierre Díaz de Games, and Nebrija.^[3] Gómez de Silva derives it instead from Late Latin imbarcare.^[5]

The noun is from Late Latin barca, a word that first appears in an inscription of the Algarve of about AD 200 and may be of Hispanic origin.^[3] According to Corominas, the Spanish verb passed into French embarquer and English embark.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first reliable hit in the CDH is the Crónica de 1344, in a manuscript of that date: & ellos enbarcados leuantose les alli vna tal tenpestad “and when they had gone on board a great storm rose against them”.^[6] Juan Fernández de Heredia's translation of Eutropius (1377–1399) has it in a figurative sense, to risk the citizens' safety.^[6][7] The CDH's earlier hit in a 13th-century New Testament is enbarquen el dia, which does not mean going on board.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Covarrubias in 1611 defines it as going on board a boat, and especially as making a sea voyage in a galley or ship;^[8] embarcarse en un negocio is to engulf oneself in a business full of dangers, like those who cross the sea.^[8] Autoridades in 1732 gives the same figurative sense, of making someone a partner in an undertaking.^[9] In the 19th century the verb was extended in the Americas to trains and other vehicles: Ramos in Mexico and Román in Chile censured embarcarse en el ferrocarril, and Ortiz noted that in Cuba one embarked even in aeroplanes.^[10][11][12] The DLE now gives trains and aircraft as well as ships.^[2] Regional senses include “to deceive, swindle” (Argentina, Puerto Rico, Guatemala) and “to stand someone up” (Cuba, Venezuela).^[13][14]

Timeline

• 1344 – enbarcados in the Crónica de 1344.^[6]
• 1376 – Heredia's translation of Eutropius.^[7]
• c. 1440 – first record according to Corominas, in Díaz de Games's Victorial.^[3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin conscendo navem.^[15]
• 1537 – first record from the Americas, in Santa Marta.^[16]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records embarcarse en un negocio.^[8]
• 1946 – Malaret records embarcar “to deceive” in Argentina, Mexico, Peru and Puerto Rico.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To put people, goods or animals on board a ship, train, aircraft or other means of transport: Embarcaron la carga al amanecer.^[2][1]
2. (intransitive, also reflexive) To go on board; to embark, board: Nos embarcamos en Cádiz.^[2][17]
3. (nautical) To assign someone to a ship.^[2]
4. (figurative, also reflexive) To involve someone, or oneself, in a difficult or risky undertaking.^[2][17]
5. (Cuba, Venezuela) To stand someone up.^[2][14]
6. (Guatemala, Puerto Rico) To deceive or swindle (estafar) someone.^[14][18]

Word family

• embarcación
• embarcadero
• embarco
• embarque
• desembarcar

Related words

• barca
• barco
• French embarquer
• English embark

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. embarcar
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 507
4. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. barca
5. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México
6. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. embarcar
7. ^ a b Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org, p. s.v. embarcar
8. ^ 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. 719
9. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 381
10. ^ Ramos y Duarte, Félix (1895), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Imprenta de Eduardo Dublán, p. 223
11. ^ Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José, p. 207
12. ^ Ortiz, Fernando (1923), Un catauro de cubanismos: apuntes lexicográficos, La Habana, p. 120
13. ^ a b Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 377
14. ^ a b c Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. embarcar
15. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 340
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. embarcar
17. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. embarcar
18. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. embarcar