explicar

Forms

explicar (first-person singular present explico, first-person singular preterite expliqué, past participle explicado)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin explicō (“to unfold, unroll; to set out, explain”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin verb is formed from ex- (“out”) and plicō (“to fold”), so that its first sense was “to unfold, to undo the folds”.^[5][6][7] The same Latin verb gave by a semi-learned route plegar and desplegar, the words for folding and unfolding, while this verb is a learned word.^[2][8] Other learned verbs of the family are aplicar, complicar, implicar, replicar and suplicar.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DEMel's earliest record is the participle esplicado in a translation of Seneca's De ira of 1284–1295.^[9] The CDH's earliest hits are in the Aragonese prose of Juan Fernández de Heredia (1376–1396), where Saint Isidore is explicando “expounding” a commandment of Exodus.^[10] Corominas dates it to 1438, in the Corbacho, and Alfonso de Palencia glossed Latin expedire with explicar, contar.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Corominas notes that the verb was still uncommon in the 16th century, was missing from Covarrubias, and became usual only in the early 17th century.^[2] In 1732 the Diccionario de Autoridades defined it as declaring and making clear what things mean, such as a text, a riddle or a doctrine, and quoted Saavedra Fajardo for the expression of one's thoughts.^[11] By 1884 the Academy also gave the sense “to teach from a chair”, still in the DLE.^[12][4] The reflexive explicarse now also means “to understand the reason for something”, as in no me lo explico.^[4][13] The spelling esplicar and the pronunciation /espliˈkaɾ/ reflect the common simplification of ⟨x⟩ before a consonant.^[1]

Timeline

• 1284–1295 – the participle esplicado in a translation of Seneca's De ira.^[9]
• 1376–1396 – Juan Fernández de Heredia uses explicar in his Aragonese prose.^[10]
• 1413 – first record in DICCA-XV.^[14]
• 1438 – first record in the DCECH and the BDELC, in the Corbacho.^[2][3]
• 1492 – Nebrija's Latin dictionary glosses Latin explico as desplegar.^[14]
• 1607 – first record of explicación.^[3]
• 1732 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as making clear what things mean.^[11]
• 1884 – the Academy adds the sense “to teach from a chair”.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, also reflexive) To make known what one thinks; to express oneself: No sé si me explico.^[4][1]
2. (transitive) To explain, to set out a difficult subject, doctrine or text in clear words: La profesora explicó el problema paso a paso.^[4][1]
3. (transitive) To teach a subject, as a lecturer: Explica historia en el instituto.^[4][13]
4. (transitive) To justify words or actions, saying that no offence was meant.^[4]
5. (transitive) To make known the cause or reason of something.^[4]
6. (reflexive) To understand the reason for something: No me explico cómo llegó tan pronto.^[4][13]

Word family

• explicación
• explicable
• explicativo
• explicaderas

Related words

• plegar
• desplegar
• implicar
• Latin explicō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 580
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. plegar
4. ^ 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. explicar
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. explicō
6. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. explicar
7. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. explicar
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. explicare
9. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. explicar
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. explicar
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 689
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 480
13. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. explicar
14. ^ 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. explicar