estorbar

Forms

estorbar (first-person singular present estorbo, first-person singular preterite estorbé, past participle estorbado)^[1] Old Spanish wrote estorvar and, beside it, the older destorvar (destorbar in the Fuero de Cáceres).^[2][3] Cantabrian has estrobar “to hinder”, and Old Aragonese and Old Leonese kept destorbar.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish estorvar, earlier destorvar, inherited from Latin disturbō (“to scatter, to demolish; to upset”).^[2][6][7] This is Corominas's explanation; he explains the loss of the d- as a kind of hypercorrection, since the prefix es- more often turned into des- than the reverse.^[2] The DLE, Moliner and the Academy's dictionary since 1899 give instead exturbō (“to drive out”) as the source.^[8][9][10] Wiktionary thinks the first explanation more likely, and García de Diego supposes that several Latin verbs, among them dēturbō (“to throw down”), merged in the Spanish word.^[1][4]

The same Latin verb gave Old French destorber and Catalan destorbar, and Old Portuguese had destorvar.^[2][11] The modern form Portuguese estorvar has lost the d- as Spanish did.^[2][12] Italian sturbare is the Italian outcome of the verb with ex-.^[13]

The Latin verb is formed from dis- and turbō (“to agitate, to throw into disorder”).^[1][7] DICCA-XV relates the Latin verb to turba (“confusion, disorder”).^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest hit in the CDH is in Berceo's Vida de San Millán (c. 1230, known from an 18th-century copy), where the devil makes many attempts por estorvar la vida del santo eremita “to hinder the life of the holy hermit”.^[3] The Fuero de Cáceres (c. 1234–1275) fines anyone who steals or diverts (destorbar) the irrigation water on another man's day.^[3] From the start the verb meant putting an obstacle in the way of something.^[2][15]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose already used the verb both for hindering something and for troubling or harming a person: his Estoria de España says that disloyalty does more harm than anything else to those who practise it.^[15] Nebrija rendered it with Latin obsto and impedio.^[14] The Diccionario de Autoridades defined it as hindering the course of an action, derived it from Latin turbare and noted the old form destorbar.^[16] In the 19th century Domínguez and Gaspar y Roig added a familiar sense, “to be in the way, to be one too many”.^[17][18] The DLE now lists “to hinder” and “to bother, inconvenience”.^[8] In Leonese the verb also names a move in some card games, playing a low card to hamper the opponent.^[19]

Timeline

• c. 1230 – Berceo's Vida de San Millán has estorvar (in an 18th-century copy).^[3]
• c. 1234–1275 – the Fuero de Cáceres uses the older form destorbar.^[3]
• 1240–1250 – the Libro de Alexandre has destorvar.^[2][3]
• c. 1250 – the noun estorbo is first recorded, at first as destorvo.^[6][2]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses destoruar for preventing a birth.^[15]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija records estorvar;^[20] Corominas dates the modern form estorbar from this year in his short dictionary.^[14][6]
• 1515 – the first record from the Americas, in Tierra Firme.^[20]
• 1846 – Domínguez's dictionary adds the familiar sense “to be in the way”.^[17]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary gives Latin exturbare as the etymon.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To hinder, obstruct: to put a difficulty or obstacle in the way of something: Las cajas del pasillo estorbaban a los que hacían la mudanza.^[8][1]
2. (transitive) To bother, inconvenience: Me estorba la radio cuando estudio.^[8][9]
3. (intransitive) To be in the way: Apártate un poco, que aquí estorbas.^[1][17]

Word family

• estorbo
• estorbador
• estorboso

Related words

• disturbar
• disturbio
• turbar
• perturbar
• Latin disturbō
• Portuguese estorvar

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. 5, 699
3. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. estorbar
4. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. exturbare
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. disturbare
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. turbar
7. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 287
8. ^ 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. estorbar
9. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. estorbar
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 435
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. disturbare
12. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 1459
13. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. exturbare
14. ^ a b c 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. estorbar
15. ^ 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. estorbar
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 643
17. ^ a b c Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 767
18. ^ 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, 954
19. ^ Le Men Loyer, Janick (2002–2012), Léxico del leonés actual, 4 vols., León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación San Isidoro; electronic version, Universidad de León, p. s.v. estorbar
20. ^ a b 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. estorbar