fincar

Forms

fincar (first-person singular present finco, first-person singular preterite finqué, past participle fincado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish fincar, inherited from Vulgar Latin *figicāre (“to fix”), a derivative of Latin fīgere (“to drive in, fix”).^[2][3] It is the same verb as ficar with an added /n/; it is the older form of hincar.^[2][4][3][1] The origin of the /n/ is unexplained.^[2] The DLE suggests the influence of fingere (“to mould, feign”).^[3] Corominas, noting that the form with /n/ tends to mean “to drive in” and the one without it “to stay”, proposes the influence of the northern finsar (“to set a boundary stone”), a semi-learned word from fīxāre, so that the verb took its /n/ in the phrase “to drive in a boundary stone” (with finso (“boundary stone”)).^[2][4] Spitzer doubted that so local a word could be responsible and suggested plantar or fundar, which Corominas rejects.^[2]

The forms without /n/ are Portuguese ficar “to stay”, Catalan ficar, French ficher and Italian ficcare.^[2][5] Portuguese and Galician distinguish fincar “to drive in” from the form without /n/, “to stay”, while Asturian uses the form with /n/ in both senses.^[2][6]

The sense “to acquire estates” is a later formation from finca, which itself goes back to the old sense “to remain”.^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) fincar means “to pitch, plant in the ground”, as in fincada la tienda “the tent pitched”, and also “to stay”.^[7][8][2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Spanish fincar meant both “to drive in, plant” and “to stay, remain”, the second very common in legal texts: lo que fincare … finque asus herederos “what remains … shall remain to his heirs” (Fuero de Zorita, 1218–1250).^[9][10] Berceo and the Leonese Alexandre say fincar los inojos “to kneel” and fincar ojo “to fix one's eyes”.^[2] Autoridades (1732) marked fincar “to stay” as antiquated, keeping the phrase aquí finca el punto “this is the crux”.^[11][2]

As a legal archaism fincar gave finca, first the balance owing on a debt (1611), then capital yielding rent and finally landed property (1817).^[4] From this the Academy recorded in 1869 a new fincar “to acquire estates”.^[12][4] In the Americas the verb has other senses: “to rest on, consist in” in Colombia, Mexico and Argentina, “to build a house” in Mexico, and “to cultivate land” in Puerto Rico.^{[13][2][14][15]}

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses fincar “to pitch (a tent)” and “to stay”.^[7][2]
• 1218–1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes uses it of property that remains to the heirs.^[9]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for what remains of a substance.^[10]
• 1525 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico City, of goods remaining after a death.^[16]
• 1732 – Autoridades marks fincar “to stay” as antiquated.^[11]
• 1869 – the Academy adds the sense “to acquire estates”.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive, also reflexive) To acquire estates or landed property (fincas): Al jubilarse fincó en un valle cerca de la costa.^[3][1][17]
2. (obsolete, transitive) To drive in (hincar), plant or stick something into something else.^[3][1]
3. (obsolete, intransitive) To stay, remain (quedar).^[3]
4. (Mexico) To build a house.^[18][14]
5. (Latin America) To base or rest something on; reflexive, to be based on, consist in.^[14][13]

Word family

• afincar
• finca
• fincante

Related words

• ficar
• hincar
• ahincar
• Latin fīgō
• Portuguese fincar

Usage notes

The phrase aquí finca el punto “here lies the point”, recorded by Autoridades, is a last trace of the old sense “to remain”, kept by legal language.^[11][2] In León fincar still means to drive in or plant, and in the reflexive to kneel.^[19]

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 j k l m Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 363
3. ^ 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. fincar
4. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. hincar
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. *figicāre
6. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 1567
7. ^ a b Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. s.v. fincar
8. ^ Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. s.v. fincar
9. ^ 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. fincar
10. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. fincar
11. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 755
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 361
13. ^ a b Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 640
14. ^ a b c Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. fincar
15. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. fincar
16. ^ 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. fincar
17. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. fincar
18. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. fincar
19. ^ Le Men Loyer, Janick (2002–2012), Léxico del leonés actual, 4 vols., León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación San Isidoro; electronic version, Universidad de León, p. s.v. fincar