examinar

Forms

examinar (first-person singular present examino, first-person singular preterite examiné, past participle examinado)^[1] Old Spanish also wrote esaminar, the form Nebrija uses, and the Partidas have exâminar.^[2][3] A popular form desaminar is recorded in Mexico in 1532 and in Salamanca.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin exāminō (“to weigh; to examine”), a learned word.^[2][6][7][1] The Latin verb is formed on exāmen (“swarm; tongue of a balance”), and at first meant both “to swarm” and “to weigh”.^[8][1] The swarm sense survives in the inherited enjambrar “to swarm, to hive bees”, the popular outcome of the same Latin verb, beside the learned word.^[5][9]

The noun goes back to *exagmen, formed on agō (“to drive”) with the prefix ex- and the suffix -men.^[1] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of that verb.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Aragonese Vidal Mayor (c. 1250), where it has become customary to examine lawsuits on holidays and working days alike: de examinar los pleytos en los días de fiesta et de non fiesta.^[11] Alfonso X's Espéculo (before 1260) has examjnado of a case judged three times.^[11] Corominas's first record is in Juan Ruiz's Libro de buen amor, and the Breve diccionario dates the verb 1335.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century the verb belonged to legal language: judges examined lawsuits, witnesses and evidence.^[11] Nebrija in 1492 glosses Latin examino as esaminar & pesar “to examine and weigh”.^[12] Autoridades (1732) defines it as to search carefully, and records the testing of physicians, surgeons and apothecaries before they may practise, and the review of books for errors.^[13] In 1817 the Academy added “to inspect, look at closely”, as one inspects a house before buying it.^[14] The reflexive examinarse “to sit an examination” was criticised in Chile by Román, who held that the student is examined rather than examines himself.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – the Vidal Mayor has examinar los pleytos.^[11][3]
• before 1260 – Alfonso X's Espéculo has examjnado.^[11]
• 1335 – Juan Ruiz uses the verb, Corominas's first record.^[6][2]
• 1492 – Nebrija glosses Latin examino as esaminar & pesar.^[12]
• 1529 – the first record from the Americas, in Nicaragua, of witnesses to be examined.^[4]
• 1611 – Covarrubias gives the verb with its Latin source examino.^[16]
• 1732 – Autoridades records the examination of physicians and of books.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary first gives an etymology, from Latin examinare.^[17]

Meanings

Verb

1. To examine, investigate or scrutinise something with care: El médico examinó al paciente.^[7][1]
2. To check the quality of something, looking for any fault or error in it.^[7]
3. To test someone by an examination; reflexive, to sit an examination: Mañana me examino de historia.^[7][18]

Word family

• examinador
• examinando

Related words

• examen
• enjambrar
• Latin exāmen

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 821
3. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. examinar
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. examinare
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. examen
7. ^ 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. examinar
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. examinare
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. examinar
12. ^ 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. examinar
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 401
15. ^ Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José
16. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 820
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 476
18. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial