firmar

Forms

firmar (first-person singular present firmo, first-person singular preterite firmé, past participle firmado)^[1] The popular doublet hirmar “to make firm, fasten” survives in Navarre, and jirmar in Cantabria and Andalusia.^[2]

Etymology

It continues inherited from Latin firmō (“to make firm, strengthen, confirm”), a derivative of firmus (“firm, stable”).^[3][1][4][5] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of firme and explains why its ⟨f-⟩ did not turn into ⟨h-⟩.^[6] In this word of moral meaning the pronunciation of the educated classes prevailed, helped by the heavy use of the verb and of ⟨firme⟩ “witness, guarantor” in notarial and legal language.^[6] He rejects the idea that the word is a true learned borrowing.^[6] Wiktionary and García de Diego do treat it as learned, a doublet of the popular hirmar.^[1][2]

The same Latin verb is Portuguese firmar, Galician firmar, Catalan fermar, Occitan fermar, French fermer (“to close”) and Italian fermare.^[7][8] Basque bermatu (“to guarantee”) comes from the related Navarro-Aragonese ferme (“guarantor”).^[6]

De Vaan derives the Latin adjective from *fermo- and Proto-Indo-European *dʰer- (“to hold”), the root of Sanskrit and Avestan verbs meaning “to hold”.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is in the Glosas Silenses, of the second half of the 10th century.^[6][10] The early sense was “to affirm, assert”: in Berceo David lo firma esto “David affirms this”.^[11] Alfonso X's prose has both “to make firm, confirm” and “to sign”.^[12]

Semantic evolution

Latin “to make firm” had become “to declare on oath, conclude a treaty” in Medieval Latin.^[13] In the subscriptions of charters firmare manu sua “to confirm with one's own hand” was one of the commonest formulas.^[14] From confirming a document by one's signature the verb came to mean “to sign”.^[4] The noun firma is recorded in a charter of 1206.^[6]

Nebrija gives both firmo, fundo, stabilio and, for signing a document, subscribo.^[15] Autoridades has “to sign” as the main sense, “to attest” as old, and “to prop up, make firm”.^[16] The Academy's dictionary of 1817 marks the older sense as obsolete and records firmar en blanco “to sign a blank paper” and no estar para firmar “to be drunk”.^[17] The reflexive “to sign oneself (with a name or title)” follows in 1869.^[18]

Modern Spanish uses it for joining a team or company by contract, and colloquially firmaría por means “I would settle for”.^[19][20] In Aragon it means hiring a worker or servant for a year.^[19] In the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico it means “to hire”, after English to sign on.^[21][22] In Mexico it is a humorous word for urinating.^[22][21][23]

Timeline

• c. 950–1000 – the Glosas Silenses.^[6][10]
• 1206 – the noun firma in a charter.^[6][10]
• 1220–1250 – Berceo uses it for “to affirm”.^[11]
• 1254 – Alfonso X's prose uses it for “to confirm” and “to sign”.^[12]
• c. 1252–1270 – the Setenario spells it ffirmar.^[24]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives firmo and, for a document, subscribo.^[15]
• 1528 – the first record from the Americas, in Nicaragua: firmada de ambos.^[25]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades defines it as putting one's signature to a letter or document.^[16]
• 1817 – the Academy records firmar en blanco and no estar para firmar.^[17]
• 1899 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin firmare.^[26]

Meanings

Verb

1. To sign (a letter, document, law): Firme aquí, por favor.^[3][1]
2. (reflexive) To sign oneself with a particular name or title.^[3][19]
3. (informal, with por) To sign a contract with a team or company.^[19][20]
4. (informal, with por) To be ready to settle for something.^[19]
5. (obsolete) To affirm, make firm and secure.^[3]
6. (Aragon) To hire a worker or servant, usually for a year.^[19]
7. (Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico) To hire.^[22][21]
8. (Mexico, humorous) To urinate.^[23]

Word family

• firma
• firmante

Related words

• firme
• afirmar
• confirmar
• firmamento
• hirmar
• Latin firmus
• French fermer

Usage notes

Firmar en blanco is to sign a paper that is wholly or partly unwritten, so that someone else can fill it in.^[3] No estar para firmar colloquially means “to be drunk”.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. firmare
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. firmar
4. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 309
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. firmō
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 902
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. firmare
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. fermer
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. firme
11. ^ a b Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 372
12. ^ 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. firmar
13. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. firmare
14. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. s.v. firmare
15. ^ 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. firmar
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 757
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 417
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 361
19. ^ a b c d e f Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. firmar
20. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. firmar
21. ^ a b c Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. firmar
22. ^ a b c Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. firmar
23. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. firmar
24. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. firmar
25. ^ 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. firmar
26. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 462