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esforzar

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word esforzar

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1140 Cantar de mio Cid More words from the 12th century
Ultimate origin
Latin fortis
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Spanish forzar
Spanish esforzar

Pronunciation

  • /esfoɾˈθaɾ/, [es.foɾˈθaɾ], /esfoɾˈsaɾ/[1]

Forms

esforzar (first-person singular present esfuerzo, first-person singular preterite esforcé, past participle esforzado)[1] Old Spanish wrote esforçar, and the present has the diphthong of the stressed syllable: esfuerça.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish es- + forzar.[4] Corominas calls it a derivative common to all of western Romance.[5] Wiktionary instead traces it to Vulgar Latin *exfortiāre, from ex- and *fortiāre, ultimately from Latin fortis (“strong”).[1][6] The Academy's 1884 dictionary derived it from the prefix and the noun fuerza, citing the same Low Latin verb.[7] Related verbs are Portuguese esforçar, Catalan esforçar, Occitan esforçar, Old French esforcier and Italian sforzare.[1][8]

forzar is recorded from the 10th century and the noun from 1115; it continues fortia, the neuter plural of the Latin adjective.[9][10] De Vaan traces the adjective, archaic forctis, to Proto-Italic *forkti-, but finds its Indo-European source undecided.[11] Wiktionary names Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“high”) or *dʰerǵʰ- (“to make firm”).[1]

The Diccionario de Autoridades noted the change of stressed /o/ to /we/ in the present, and took the verb to be formed from the noun esfuerzo.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) has the participle esforçados “strong”: the moneylenders could not lift the chests maguer eran esforçados “though they were strong”.[12][5] The Liber Regum (c. 1194–1211) calls a king omne muit esforçado “a very valiant man”.[12]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's Lapidario uses the verb for giving strength to a part of the body, for giving courage to a faint-hearted man and, reflexively, for taking heart; his astrological Judizios already has the sense of striving.[13] Covarrubias in 1611 defined it as to give or take strength, and esforzar una opinión as to support an opinion with new reasons and examples;[14] esforzarse was to take heart.[14] The Diccionario de Autoridades kept these senses.[3] The reflexive “to make an effort” appears in Salvá's dictionary of 1846 and in the Academy's of 1884, which also marked the sense “to become confirmed in an opinion” as obsolete.[15][7]

Today the reflexive “to strive” is the main use, and the transitive verb also means to strain an organ or faculty, as the eyes.[16][17]

Timeline

  • c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has esforçados.[5][12]
  • c. 1223 – the Semejanza del mundo has the reflexive se esfuerça.[12]
  • 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for giving strength and courage.[13]
  • c. 1495 – Nebrija renders esforçarse with Latin conor and nitor “to strive”.[18]
  • 1548 – first records from the Americas, in Mexico City and Santo Domingo.[19]
  • 1611 – Covarrubias records esforzar una opinión.[14]
  • 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology and the reflexive “to make an effort”.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To give strength or vigour to; to strain an organ or faculty: No esfuerces la voz.[4][16]
  2. To encourage, fill with courage.[4][1]
  3. (intransitive) To take heart.[4]
  4. (reflexive) To make an effort, physical or moral, to achieve something; to strive: Se esfuerza por terminar a tiempo.[4][1]
  5. (reflexive, obsolete) To become confirmed in an opinion.[4]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g 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. esforzar
  3. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 582
  4. ^ a b c d e f 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. esforzar
  5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 972
  6. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
  7. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 454
  8. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 214
  9. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. fuerte
  10. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. fortia
  11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  12. ^ 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. esforzar
  13. ^ 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. esforzar
  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. 781
  15. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 476
  16. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. esforzar
  17. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. esforzar
  18. ^ 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. esforzar
  19. ^ 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. esforzar
Cite this entry

“Esforzar.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/esforzar. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·