escobar

Forms

escobar (first-person singular present escobo, first-person singular preterite escobé, past participle escobado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin scōpō (“to sweep”), according to the DLE, Wiktionary and García de Diego.^[2][1][3] Autoridades and Vox explain it instead as a verb formed in Spanish from escoba.^[4][5] The Late Latin verb comes from scōpae (“twigs; broom”), and it replaced verrō (“to sweep”) in several Romance languages.^[6][7]

The same verb is Portuguese escovar, Old Occitan escobar, Old French escover and Italian scopare.^[6]

De Vaan compares the Latin noun with σκᾶπος (skâpos, “stick”) and skaft (“shaft”), from a root that may be *sk(e/o)h₂p- or a borrowing.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest record of the verb in the CDH is the Fuero General de Navarra (1250–1300, in an early 14th-century copy), which orders that the place where pledged animals are kept be swept morning and evening: escoben el logar o estan los peynos.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades calls the verb little used and records the proverb el día que no escobé, vino quien no pensé “the day I did not sweep, someone I did not expect came”, a warning to be always prepared.^[4] Terreros has the older form escopar as obsolete.^[10] The Academy's dictionaries have defined it as “to sweep with a broom” since 1817, and the 1884 edition gives the Latin scopare.^[11][12]

Timeline

• 1250–1300 – the Fuero General de Navarra has escoben “let them sweep”.^[9]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades records the verb as little used, with the proverb el día que no escobé, vino quien no pensé.^[4]
• 1786–1793 – Terreros lists escopar as an old form.^[10]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary first gives the etymology scopare.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To sweep with a broom (escoba): Escobó el patio antes de que llegaran.^[2][1]

Related words

• escoba
• barrer
• Latin scōpae
• Portuguese escovar

Usage notes

A separate noun escobar means a place where broom (the shrub) grows in abundance; it is recorded from 1135, and in a Latinised form from 960.^[13][14][2] It is also a Castilian surname and place name.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. escobar
3. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. scopare
4. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 564
5. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. escobar
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. scopare
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ 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. escobar
10. ^ a b Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 2, 81
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 379
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. 449
13. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 697
14. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. escoba
15. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 766