estudiar

Forms

estudiar (first-person singular present estudio, first-person singular preterite estudié, past participle estudiado)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish estudio + -ar.^[2][3][1] The noun estudio is a learned word, from Latin studium (“zeal, application, study”).^[3] Gómez de Silva derives the verb directly from Medieval Latin studiare.^[4] The Latin noun is formed from studeō (“to devote oneself, strive after”);^[5][1] de Vaan explains the verb as a stative “to be thrusting”, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewd- (“to thrust, hit”).^[6]

Compare Portuguese estudar and the English word study.^[1][7] A popular outcome of the same Latin noun is Asturian estuyu.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first hit is in the Semejanza del mundo (c. 1223): do estudiauan las mjsas “where they applied themselves to the masses”.^[9] The pronominal studiense appears in the cartulary of Benevívere of about 1220–1230.^[10] Corominas dates the verb 1220–1250.^[3][11] In the Libro de Apolonio (c. 1240) it means “to apply oneself, endeavour”: estudiar querría, conponer hun romançe “I would like to set about composing a poem”.^[9][12]

Semantic evolution

In Old Spanish the verb meant “to apply oneself, strive”, also as a reflexive;^[12][9] Berceo says of a saint bien se estudïava “he strove well”.^[12][9] Alfonso X's prose already has the senses “to apply the mind to learning or understanding” and “to receive teaching”.^[13] Nebrija rendered it dar obra, Latin studeo.^[14]

Covarrubias defined it as occupying the mind in grasping a thing with care.^[15] Autoridades added, by antonomasia, “to study the sciences at the universities”, quoting the Quijote: sino estudiar y más estudiar “but study and study more”.^[16] The Academy's dictionary of 1817 recorded drawing from a model in painting, and the theatre sense of reading a part to actors so that they learn it by heart;^[17] cuidar con vigilancia “to watch over” was already obsolete.^[17] The old reflexive sense “to strive” was listed as obsolete by Salvá.^[18] In Peru estudiar is a jocular word for pawning something.^[19]

Timeline

• c. 1220–1230 – the pronominal studiense in the cartulary of Benevívere.^[10]
• c. 1223 – the Semejanza del mundo has estudiauan.^[9]
• c. 1240 – the Libro de Apolonio uses it for “to endeavour”.^[9][12]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for applying the mind to learning.^[13]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin studeo.^[14][11]
• 1566 – first record in the Americas, in Yucatán.^[20]
• 1611 – Covarrubias's definition.^[15]
• 1817 – the Academy adds the senses of painting and the theatre.^[17]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology de estudio.^[21]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To study: to apply the mind to understand or learn something: Está estudiando la historia de Roma.^[2][1]
2. To take courses at a university or school; also intransitive: Mi hermano estudia Derecho en Salamanca.^[2][22]
3. To learn by heart; also pronominal: Me estudié el poema entero.^[2]
4. To examine carefully, look into: Vamos a estudiar tu oferta.^[2][1]
5. Of a science or a work: to deal with a subject: La sismología estudia los terremotos.^[2]
6. (painting) To draw from a model or from nature.^[2]
7. (rare) To read to someone what they have to learn, helping them learn it, especially to an actor.^[2][22]
8. (obsolete) To watch over carefully.^[2]
9. (Peru, jocular) To pawn something.^[19]

Word family

• estudiante

Related words

• estudio
• estudioso
• Latin studeō
• Portuguese estudar

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 i 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. estudiar
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. estudio
4. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. estudiar
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. estudar
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. studium
9. ^ 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. estudiar
10. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. estudiar
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. estudiar
12. ^ a b c d Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 245
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. estudiar
14. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 352
15. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 815
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 658
17. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 399
18. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 495
19. ^ a b Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 406
20. ^ 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. estudiar
21. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 472
22. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. estudiar