existir

Forms

existir (first-person singular present existo, first-person singular preterite existí, past participle existido)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin exsistō (“to step out, come forth, appear”), a learned word.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin verb is ex- (“out”) and sistō (“to cause to stand, set up”).^[5][1][6] This verb goes back to Proto-Italic *si-stā- and the reduplicated present Proto-Indo-European *sti-sth₂- (“to make stand”), of the root of stō (“to stand”).^[7][1]

Corominas dates the verb from Oudin's dictionary of 1607 and notes that it is missing from Nebrija, Palencia, Covarrubias, the Celestina and the Quijote; the CDH has examples from the 1450s.^[2][3][8] Its derivatives existente (about 1440) and existencia (1490) are recorded earlier than the verb.^[2][3] The same Latin verb is Catalan existir, French exister and Italian esistere.^[9][10] Other Spanish verbs of the same Latin family are asistir, consistir, desistir, insistir, persistir, resistir and subsistir.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earlier hits are not this verb: the participle in a Latin charter of 1231 (Aluaro Ruderici existente merino), and Berceo's exist pora mercado “go out to the market”, a form of another verb.^[8] The first Spanish example is in Rodrigo Sánchez de Arévalo's Vergel de los príncipes (1454–1457): todas las cosas por trabajo e exerçiçio del mouimiento existen “all things exist through labour and the exercise of motion”.^[8] Alfonso de Cartagena's Oracional (before 1456) also has it.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Classical Latin exsistō meant “to come forth, emerge, appear”, and Medieval Latin already used it as a plain verb “to be”, even as a copula.^[5][11][12] In Spanish it has meant “to have real being” from the first examples.^[4][13] The word stayed rare in the classical period: the Diccionario de Autoridades quotes no example earlier than 1700, and defines it as having real and true being, being at present.^[2][13] In the Americas it appears in 1607 in Venezuela, no existe ya la dificultad “the difficulty no longer exists”.^[14]

The Academy's dictionary of 1817 added “and also to be existing”, a definition that Domínguez (1846–1847) mocked as circular.^[15][16] Alemany (1917) records the senses “to live” and “to be there”, which the DLE keeps today beside “to be real”.^[17][4]

Timeline

• 1231 – the Latin participle existente in a charter of Oña.^[8]
• c. 1440 – first record of existente.^[2][3]
• 1454–1457 – first Spanish record, in Sánchez de Arévalo's Vergel de los príncipes.^[8]
• 1490 – existencia in the Celestina.^[2]
• 1607 – Oudin's dictionary, Corominas's first record; the first example from the Americas, in Venezuela.^[2][14]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades, with examples from after 1700.^[13][2]
• 1786–1793 – Terreros gives French exister and Italian esistere as equivalents.^[9]
• 1846–1847 – Domínguez criticises the Academy's definition.^[16]
• 1899 – the Academy derives it from Latin exsistere.^[18]
• 1917 – Alemany adds the senses “to live” and “to be there”.^[17]

Meanings

Verb

1. To exist; to be real and true: ¿Crees que existen los fantasmas?^[4][1]
2. To have life, to live.^[4][19]
3. To be, to be found, for there to be: En el archivo existe una copia del contrato.^[4]

Word family

• existente
• existencia
• existencial
• coexistir
• preexistir
• inexistente

Related words

• asistir
• consistir
• insistir
• persistir
• resistir
• subsistir
• Latin exsistō

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 i Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 824
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. existir
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. existir
5. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. existir
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ 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. existir
9. ^ a b Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 2, 133
10. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 315
11. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
13. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 684
14. ^ 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. existir
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 403
16. ^ a b 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. 783
17. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 744
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 443
19. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. existir