embargar

Forms

embargar (first-person singular present embargo, first-person singular preterite embargué, past participle embargado)^[1] Old Spanish texts write it both enbargar and embargar.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *imbarricāre (“to bar, block”), a verb of Vulgar Latin or early Romance of this area, formed with in- on *barra (“bar, crossbar”).^[3][4][1][5] Corominas calls it a word common to Castilian, Portuguese, Catalan and Occitan and takes *barra for the source only as probable.^[3] García de Diego and the REW give the Latin verb the sense “to obstruct”.^[6][5] Gómez de Silva reads the literal sense as “to put behind bars”.^[7] Lanchetas compared the change of the Latin verb to Spanish with otorgar, from *auctoricāre.^[8]

The same verb is Portuguese embargar, Galician embargar, Catalan embargar and Occitan embargar.^[5][6] The noun embargo is recorded even earlier, in 1020, and the REW pairs it with Provençal embarc.^[3][5]

This noun is found in Italian, French, Provençal, Catalan, Spanish and Portuguese, and its origin is unclear.^[9] Coromines thinks it pre-Roman, probably from central Europe and older than Celtic and Proto-Germanic.^[10] It has been compared with Gaulish *barro- (“end, top”), known only from proper names, and Wiktionary also names Proto-Germanic *barō (“bar, barrier”).^[11][1]

The Academy dictionaries of 1884 and 1899 derived the verb from Medieval Latin imparō (“to lay hands on a thing, sequester”).^[12][13] Covarrubias and Barcia linked it with embarazar, and Alemany still did so in 1917.^[14][15][16]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded in the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy), where King Alfonso, receiving the Cid's gift, says ¡Mucho me avedes enbargado! “you have quite overwhelmed me!”.^[17][3] Cejador glosses the Cid's use as “to overwhelm, to confuse”, and gives “to hinder” for the Archpriest of Hita.^[18]

Semantic evolution

Old Spanish used the verb for hindering or stopping someone, and Berceo also for frightening or troubling.^[8] In Alfonso X's Lapidario it can mean to hinder, to take away a faculty (an illness that embarga el dormir & el ueer “stops sleep and sight”), or to dim a colour; the Partidas use it for “to harm”.^[19]

The legal sense is in Nebrija's dictionary of about 1495, which has Embargar hazienda “to seize property”, translated by Latin sequestro, beside Embargar estorvar “to hinder”.^[20] Covarrubias in 1611 gave “to stop, hinder, especially by order of a competent judge”.^[14] The 1732 Autoridades put the legal sense first and noted that the sense “to hinder” was much used in old times.^[21] The figurative sense, said of the senses or of the mind, “to suspend, paralyse”, was in the Academy's dictionary by 1817.^[22]

Today the legal sense and the sense of a feeling that overwhelms someone are the main ones.^[23][24] In nautical use it also meant a government's order to detain ships.^[25]

Timeline

• 1020 – the noun embargo is recorded.^[3]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has enbargado “overwhelmed”.^[17][3]
• 1220–1250 – desembargar is recorded.^[3]
• c. 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for “to hinder”, “to suspend” and “to dim”.^[19]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija records both “to hinder” and “to seize property”.^[20][26]
• 1533 – first record from the Americas, in Nombre de Dios, for goods held to pay a debt.^[27]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as hindering, especially by a judge's order.^[14]
• 1732 – the Diccionario de Autoridades gives the legal sense first.^[21]
• 1884 – the Academy proposes Low Latin imparare as its source.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To hinder, obstruct or stop.^[4][24]
2. Of a feeling or sensation: to overwhelm someone, taking over their senses or faculties: Una gran tristeza embargó a todos los presentes.^[4][1][23]
3. (law) To seize or impound property by court order, holding it against the outcome of a proceeding or a debt: El juzgado le embargó la cuenta corriente.^[4][1]

Word family

• embargo
• desembargar
• embargante
• desembargo

Related words

• barra
• Portuguese embargar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. embargar
3. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. embargar
4. ^ a b c d 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. embargar
5. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4277
6. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. embargar
7. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. embargar
8. ^ a b Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. s.v. embargar
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 963
10. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 1, 661
11. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. barre
12. ^ 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. 412
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 382
14. ^ 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
15. ^ Barcia, Roque (1880–1883), Primer diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Tipográfico de Álvarez Hermanos, p. s.v. embargar
16. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 637
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. embargar
18. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando, p. s.v. embargar
19. ^ 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. emperador
20. ^ a b Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. embargar
21. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 382
22. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 344
23. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. embargar
24. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. embargar
25. ^ O'Scanlan, Timoteo (1831), Diccionario marítimo español, Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. s.v. embargar
26. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 340
27. ^ 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. embargar