enfrenar

Forms

enfrenar (first-person singular present enfreno, first-person singular preterite enfrené, past participle enfrenado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin infreno (“to bridle; to curb”), according to the DLE, Wiktionary, García de Diego and the REW.^[2][1][3][4] Corominas lists it instead among the Spanish derivatives of freno, and the Diccionario de Autoridades already explained it as formed from that noun with a prefix.^[5][6][7]

The same Latin verb is Romanian înfrâna, Italian infrenare, Old French enfrener, Old Occitan enfrenar, Catalan enfrenar and Portuguese enfrear.^[4][3] Galician also has enfrear.^[3]

The Latin verb is made of in- and frenum (“bridle, harness”).^[8][1] That noun goes back to *frēno- and *dʰr-eh₁-no- (“holding”), from the root *dʰer- (“to hold”).^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the participle in the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy), where thirty horses are sent as a gift todos con siellas e muy bien enfrenados “all with saddles and very well bridled”.^[10] Corominas dated the verb only from Nebrija (c. 1495).^[5][11]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century the verb meant putting the bridle on a horse or mule and holding an animal in check: the Lapidario of Alfonso X describes a stone engraved with a man who curbs a lion with his hand.^[12][10] Nebrija gave Latin freno and infreno as its equivalents in the proper sense, and verbs of holding back in the figurative one.^[13][11] Covarrubias in 1611 and the Diccionario de Autoridades also defined it as training a horse with the bit, so that it stops and obeys;^[14] Autoridades added the figurative “to restrain, check disorders” and the phrase enfrenar bien el caballo, of a horse that carries its head straight.^[14][7]

Corominas notes that the verb is now old-fashioned in most of its senses: frenar, formed from freno, took its place, as it did that of refrenar.^[5] In Mexico the DLE records the sense “to brake”, and in Puerto Rico the verb means to bow the head, said first of a horse being broken in.^[2][15][16] Judeo-Spanish uses it for “to brake, slow down”.^[17]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid (in a 14th-century copy) speaks of horses muy bien enfrenados.^[10]
• c. 1242 – the Fuero de Brihuega mentions a cauallo mal enfrenado, the first record in a contemporary manuscript.^[10]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses the verb for bridling and for curbing a lion.^[12]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija's Vocabulario, the DCECH's first record.^[13][5]
• 1525 – the first record from the Americas, in Mexico City: a mule ensillada e enfrenada.^[18]
• 1605 – Don Quixote tells Sancho to bridle Rocinante.^[19][7]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as bridling a horse and training it to obey the bit.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary marks the figurative sense “to restrain” as also used reflexively.^[20]

Meanings

Verb

1. To put the bridle on a horse: Enfrenó la yegua antes de salir al camino.^[2][1]
2. To train a horse to obey the bit.^[2][21]
3. To hold a horse in and keep it under control.^[2]
4. To make a horse carry its head straight and steady, especially with bien.^[2][21]
5. To restrain or curb someone or something, also used reflexively; the same as refrenar.^[2][1]
6. (Mexico) To brake, slow or stop with a brake, as frenar.^[2][15]
7. (Puerto Rico) To bow the head.^[15][16]

Word family

• desenfrenar
• enfrenamiento
• enfrenador

Related words

• freno
• frenar
• refrenar
• Latin infreno
• Portuguese enfrear

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 h 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. enfrenar
3. ^ a b c García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. infrenare
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. infrēnāre
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 953
6. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. freno
7. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 466
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. infrēnō
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ 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. enfrenar
11. ^ 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. enfrenar
12. ^ 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. enfrenar
13. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 344
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. 741
15. ^ 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. enfrenar
16. ^ a b Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. enfrenar
17. ^ Nehama, Joseph (1977), Dictionnaire du judéo-espagnol, Madrid: CSIC, p. s.v. enfrenar
18. ^ 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. enfrenar
19. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. 463
20. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 428
21. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. enfrenar