familiarizar

Forms

familiarizar (first-person singular present familiarizo, first-person singular preterite familiaricé, past participle familiarizado)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish familiar + -izar.^[1][2] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of familia, citing Quevedo for it.^[3] familiar, first recorded in 1438, was taken from Latin familiāris, an adjective of familia (“household”), which is itself derived from famulus (“servant, slave”).^[4][3] Terreros (1787) gave the equivalent French familiariser, and Echegaray compared Italian famigliarizzare and Catalan familiarisar.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record in the CDH is in Paravicino's funeral oration for Fray Simón de Rojas (1624), in the sense “to make common or ordinary”: God did not wish to familiarizar su presencia “make his presence familiar”.^[7] Two years later Fernández Navarrete used the pronominal familiarizarse for treating a superior with too much familiarity.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades (1732) defined the transitive verb as “to make a thing familiar and homely”, with a quotation from Quevedo about Trajan, and the pronominal verb as “to enter into familiar dealings with someone”.^[8] Terreros added the figurative use of becoming familiar with a book, an author's style or a language.^[5] Domínguez (1846–1847) and Alemany (1917) recorded the sense “to get used to something”, which the DLE now gives as familiarizarse con el peligro “to get used to danger”.^[9][10][11] Its first American record is from New Granada, in 1775.^[12]

Timeline

• 1624 – first record, in Paravicino's funeral oration.^[7]
• 1626 – Fernández Navarrete uses the pronominal familiarizarse.^[7]
• 1732 – Autoridades enters the verb and its pronominal use.^[8]
• 1775 – first record in the Americas, in New Granada.^[12]
• 1787 – Terreros records the figurative use with a book or a language.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To familiarize someone with something, to make it familiar or common to them: Este curso familiariza a los alumnos con la poesía medieval.^[11][1]
2. (pronominal) To enter into close and familiar dealings with someone.^[11]
3. (pronominal) To get used to something, to adapt to it: Pronto se familiarizó con el nuevo programa.^[11][13]

Related words

• familiaridad
• French familiariser

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
3. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 846
4. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. familia
5. ^ a b c 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, 146
6. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 351
7. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. familiarizar
8. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 718
9. ^ 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. 792
10. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 756
11. ^ 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. familiarizar
12. ^ 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. familiarizar
13. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. familiarizar