evadir

Forms

evadir (first-person singular present evado, first-person singular preterite evadí, past participle evadido)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned borrowing, borrowed from Latin ēvādō (“to go out; to escape”).^[1][2][3] Corominas lists it among the derivatives in his article on invadir, and gives a text of H. Núñez of 1499 and Antonio de Guevara as its first records.^[4]

The Latin verb is formed of ex- (“out”) and vādō (“to go, advance”).^[5][3] De Vaan derives the simple verb from Proto-Indo-European *weh₂dʰ- (“to advance”), the root also of Old High German watan and Old Norse vaða (“to wade”).^[6]

The same Latin verb was taken into Catalan evadir, Portuguese evadir and Italian evadere.^[1][7][8] French évader is a learned borrowing of about 1375, used at first as an intransitive verb meaning “to escape from”.^[9]

García de Diego also derives from the Latin verb a group of popular words for fading and fainting, among them desvaído and vahído.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first secure record in the CDH is in Enrique de Villena's Tratado de consolación (1424), where children who die a natural death evaden tales peligros “escape such dangers”.^[11] The corpus's earlier hit in the Cantar de mio Cid is the form evades in Evades aquí, not this verb.^[11] Villena's translation of the Aeneid (1427–1428) uses it intransitively: the Trojans could not evadir “get away” from danger without effort.^[11]

Semantic evolution

In the 15th century the verb meant “to escape from” or “to avoid” a danger, a punishment or an obligation: a writer of the 1450s says that rebels rise up por evadir la pena “to escape the penalty”.^[11] The Diccionario de Autoridades (1732) defined it as “to flee, escape and get out of a danger or difficulty”, quoting the Comendador's gloss on Mena and Antonio de Guevara.^[12]

From 1817 the Academy defined it as avoiding an imminent harm or danger, or eluding a foreseen difficulty with skill or cunning, also used reflexively.^[13][14] The 1899 edition added the reflexive sense “to flee, escape”.^[15][16] The current dictionary adds the illegal transfer of money or goods out of a country, and the reflexive sense of putting one's worries out of mind.^[2][17] The reflexive evadirse de la prisión is recorded in the Americas from 1543.^[18]

Timeline

• 1424 – Enrique de Villena, Tratado de consolación: evaden tales peligros.^[11]
• 1427–1428 – Villena's translation of the Aeneid (in a copy of 1442).^[11]
• c. 1430–1440 – Alfonso de la Torre, Visión deleitable: non puede evadir nin escusarse.^[11]
• 1499 – H. Núñez, the first record Corominas gives.^[4]
• 1543 – Panama: queriéndose evadir de la prisión.^[18]
• 1732 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as “to flee, escape”.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives its Latin etymon for the first time.^[19]
• 1899 – the Academy adds the reflexive sense “to run away, escape”.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. To avoid a harm or danger; also reflexive: Evadió el golpe con un salto.^[2][20]
2. To evade or elude a foreseen difficulty with skill or cunning: Siempre evade las preguntas incómodas.^[2][1]
3. To take money or other goods out of a country illegally: evadir capitales.^[2][20]
4. (reflexive) To escape or flee from a place of confinement: Dos reclusos se evadieron anoche.^[2][20][1]
5. (reflexive) To put one's worries or cares out of mind: Lee novelas para evadirse.^[2]

Related words

• evasión
• evasivo
• evasor
• invadir
• Latin ēvādō
• French évader

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. evadir
3. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México
4. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 461
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. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll
8. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
11. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. evadir
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. evadir
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía
16. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena
17. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe
18. ^ 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
19. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies)
20. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos