hablar

Forms

hablar (first-person singular present hablo, first-person singular preterite hablé, past participle hablado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish fablar, inherited from Latin fābulārī (“to talk, converse”), a familiar Latin verb derived from fābula (“conversation; story, fable”), itself from fārī (“to speak”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin verb appears in the comic writers of the 2nd century BC; the classical authors avoided it, but it lived on in part of Vulgar Latin.^[2] In Romance it is typical of Castilian and Galician-Portuguese, as Portuguese falar, Galician falar and Asturian falar show, while Italy has descendants of a variant Vulgar Latin *fabellare, and the languages of France and Italy and Catalan preferred *parabolare.^[2][5]

The Leonese variant falar is already in the Libro de Alexandre, beside favlar.^[2] The spelling with ⟨h⟩ is first recorded in Nebrija;^[2] the Autoridades explains that the old form had been softened by turning the F into H.^[6] It is a doublet of fabular, borrowed from Latin.^[1]

The root verb goes back to Proto-Italic *fāōr and Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to speak”);^[1][7] de Vaan lists the noun, the verb and fācundus (“eloquent”) among its derivatives.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DCECH's first record is the participle fabulado in a document of 1115 in Oelschläger's list.^[2] Fablar is in the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy): „fabló mio Cid bien e tan mesurado” “my Cid spoke well and with such restraint”.^[3][9]

Semantic evolution

Medieval and classical Spanish used hablar with a direct object of the person, “to address (someone)”, as in Juan Ruiz's „fablóme e fabléla” and in the Quijote; this is now normal in much of South and Central America, while Spain uses hablarle.^[2] Hablar en “to talk about” is found from Berceo on and is common in the Golden Age.^[2] Covarrubias in 1611 derived the verb from Latin fabulor and gathered phrases such as hablar de papo and the proverb habló el buey y dijo mu.^[10] The Autoridades defined it as to articulate and utter words, and also to reason or converse and to make a speech.^[6]

In 1855 Baralt rejected several uses as Gallicisms, among them todo nos habla de su gloria.^[11] Regional senses include “to phone someone” in Mexico and El Salvador and “to scold” in Ecuador.^[12][13] French borrowed the Spanish verb as hâbler “to chatter” (hâbleur 1555).^[2][1]

Timeline

• 1115 – the participle fabulado in a charter.^[2]
• c. 1140 – fablar in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[2][3]
• c. 1180 – the Auto de los Reyes Magos has the participle falada.^[9]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario: sabie fablar aquel lenguage “he could speak that language”.^[14]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija writes hablar with ⟨h⟩.^[2]
• 1509 – the first record from the Americas, in Puerto Rico.^[15]
• 1555 – French hâbleur, from the Spanish verb.^[2]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records the proverb habló el buey y dijo mu.^[10]
• 1737 – hablista is first recorded.^[3]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology “Del lat. fabulari”.^[16]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To speak, to utter words: El niño todavía no habla.^[4][1]
2. (intransitive) Of some birds, such as the parrot, to imitate human speech.^[4]
3. (intransitive) To talk, to communicate with others in words: Hablamos un buen rato con el profesor.^[4][1]
4. (intransitive) To give a speech: Esta tarde hablará el alcalde.^[4]
5. (intransitive) To express oneself in a certain way, or to speak well or ill of someone: hablar despacio.^[4]
6. (intransitive) To discuss or deal with a subject, also in writing: hablar de política.^[4]
7. (intransitive) To address someone: No le habló en toda la noche.^[4]
8. (intransitive) To gossip, to criticise.^[4]
9. (intransitive) To intercede for someone.^[4]
10. (intransitive) To communicate by means other than speech: hablar por señas.^[4]
11. (transitive) To speak a language: Habla tres idiomas.^[1]
12. (reflexive, informal) To talk regularly with someone, to be in contact.^[1]
13. (Mexico, El Salvador) To phone someone.^[12]

Word family

• habla
• hablador
• habladuría
• hablante
• hablilla
• hablista
• hablistán
• hablanchín
• malhablado

Related words

• fábula
• fabular
• confabular
• facundo
• Latin fābulor
• Portuguese falar

Usage notes

Wiktionary lists many set phrases built on the verb, among them hablar por los codos, hablar por hablar and ni hablar.^[1] In much of the Americas hablar a alguien takes the person as a direct object (la hablé), where Spain says le hablé.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 296
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. hablar
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. hablar
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. fabulari
6. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 107
7. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
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. hablar
10. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 955
11. ^ Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado, p. 346
12. ^ 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. hablar
13. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 464
14. ^ 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. hablar
15. ^ 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. hablar
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 552