escupir

Forms

escupir (first-person singular present escupo, first-person singular preterite escupí, past participle escupido)^[1] Old Spanish also had escopir, found in the Libro de Alexandre, the Conde Lucanor, Sem Tob, Alonso de Palencia and Nebrija, and in Alfonso X's Lapidario.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish escupir, probably inherited from Vulgar Latin *exconspuere, a derivative of cōnspuō (“to spit upon”), which lost its second /s/ by dissimilation.^[2][5][6][1] It is formed from Latin con- + spuō (“to spit”).^[7][1] spuō goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sp(i)uH- (“to spit”), an onomatopoeic root, and is cognate with Ancient Greek πτύω (ptúō) and Gothic 𐍃𐍀𐌴𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌽 (speiwan).^[8]

The same prefixed type is Catalan escopir, Occitan escupir, Old French escopir and Romanian scuipa; Portuguese cuspir, Galician cuspir and Asturian cuspir continue the simple Latin verb directly.^[2][9][10] Corominas holds that the two types can't be separated, and that the loss of the second /s/ in an intermediate form with two of them could have happened at different times in different regions.^[2]

Meyer-Lübke proposed instead an onomatopoeic *scuppire, an idea Corominas rejects with G. Paris, García de Diego and Pușcariu; the Catalan dictionary of Alcover and Moll still follows it.^[2][11][12] Gómez de Silva also allows a metathesis of ⟨c-sp⟩ to ⟨sc-p⟩ in place of the Vulgar Latin derivative.^[13] The passage of the verb to the conjugation in -ir parallels that of cōnsuō (“to sew”) in Italy, Sardinia, Rhaetia and Catalonia, where it gave Catalan cosir.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in Gonzalo de Berceo's Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos (c. 1236, in a late 13th-century copy) and his Duelo de la Virgen.^[2][4] In Santo Domingo a girl possessed by the devil is told to spit him out of her lips: escupió de los labros essa mala manziella “she spat out that evil stain from her lips”.^[4][14] The Fuero de Brihuega (c. 1242), which survives in a contemporary copy, punishes qui escupiere a otro en la cara “whoever spits in another's face”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Already in Alfonso X's prose the verb was used for coughing up blood as well as for spitting saliva.^[3][4] Covarrubias in 1611 stressed spitting in someone's face as a grave insult, the outrage done to Christ in the Passion.^[15] Autoridades (1732) added the senses of a rash breaking out on the skin after a fever and of firearms or clouds “spitting” bullets and lightning.^[16]

The Academy's dictionaries of the 19th century record the phrases escupir a uno “to mock someone” and no escupir una cosa “to be fond of something”, and Gaspar y Roig lists the proverb al que escupe hacia arriba, en la cara le cae.^[17][18] Today the verb also means “to confess, to spill a secret” in colloquial use, and in Dominican Spanish and slang “to pay up”.^[6][19][20]

Timeline

• c. 1236 – Berceo uses escupir in the Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos.^[4][2]
• 1240–1250 – the Libro de Alexandre has the variant escopir.^[4]
• c. 1242 – the Fuero de Brihuega punishes spitting in another's face.^[4]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario speaks of escopir sangre “spitting blood”.^[3]
• 14th century – the derivative escupitina “spittle” is first recorded.^[5]
• 1542 – the first record from the Americas, in Peru.^[21]
• 1604 – escupidero, the source of escupidera, is first recorded;^[15] escupitajo follows in 1607.^[5]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives the word, wrongly, from Latin spuo.^[15]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary separates the intransitive “to spit” from the transitive “to spit something out”.^[22]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To spit, to throw out saliva from the mouth: No escupas en la acera.^[6][1]
2. (transitive) To spit out or cough up something: escupir sangre.^[6][1]
3. (transitive) To cast something away with contempt (desprecio), as vile or dirty.^[6]
4. (transitive) Of a body, to give out to its surface another substance that was mixed with it.^[6][23]
5. (transitive) To throw out something with violence: El cráter escupía ceniza.^[6][24]
6. (transitive) Of the skin, to break out in spots after a fever.^[6]
7. (transitive) To mock or scorn someone.^[6]
8. (transitive, colloquial) To tell what one knows, to confess (confesar).^[6][24]
9. (bullfighting) Of a bull, to shed the sword after it has been driven in;^[18][23] (reflexive) of a bullfighter or bull, to move out of the pass.^[6]

Word family

• escupitajo
• escupitina
• escupidera
• escupidor
• escupo
• escupida

Related words

• Latin cōnspuō
• Portuguese cuspir
• Catalan escopir

Usage notes

The set phrase no escupir algo means “to be fond of something”.^[6] The proverb quien al cielo escupe, en la cara le cae warns that harm meant for one's betters falls back on oneself.^[18][23]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 721
3. ^ a b c 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. escupir
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. escupir
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. escupir
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. escupir
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. cōnspuō
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. spuō
9. ^ 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. 3, 543
10. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. cuspir
11. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 2526
12. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. escopir
13. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. escupir
14. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 342
15. ^ 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. 777
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 580
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 383
18. ^ a b c Gaspar y Roig (eds.) (1853–1855), Biblioteca ilustrada de Gaspar y Roig: Diccionario enciclopédico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Imprenta y Librería de Gaspar y Roig, p. 1, 915
19. ^ Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. escupir
20. ^ León, Víctor (1980), Diccionario de argot español y lenguaje popular, Madrid: Alianza Editorial, p. s.v. escupir
21. ^ 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. escopir
22. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 420
23. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. escupir
24. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. escupir