interesar

Forms

interesar (first-person singular present intereso, first-person singular preterite interesé, past participle interesado)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish interés + -ar.^[2][1][3] The noun interés is the Latin infinitive interesse (“to be between; to concern, matter”) used as a noun;^[3][4][1] The Latin verb is formed from inter- (“between”) and sum (“to be”).^[3][4][1] In Spanish charters the noun appears as interesse or interese, “compensation for loss”, from 1300.^[5] Terreros in 1787 gave French intéresser and Italian interessare as its equivalents.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the verb to the beginning of the 17th century, but Boyd-Bowman has it in documents of the Americas from 1529: in Mexico City someone accounts for lo que e ynteresado e gastado “what I have gained and spent”, and in Nicaragua in 1534 a man ganó e ynteresó mucho oro e plata “won and gained much gold and silver”.^[3][7] Its first sense was thus “to gain, make a profit”, the sense the Diccionario de Autoridades still gave first.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The Academy's dictionary of 1817 added transitive senses: to give someone a share in a business, to involve someone in another's affairs, and, in poetry, to move an audience or readers.^[9] In 1843 it added “to inspire interest or affection in someone”.^[10] By 1899 the moving of the audience had become the general sense “to hold the attention and feelings with what one says or writes”, and the old sense “to profit” has since dropped out.^[11][2]

Today the commonest use is intransitive, me interesa “it interests me”, with the pronominal interesarse por “to take an interest in; to ask after”.^[2][12] Medicine uses it for a wound or disease that affects an organ.^[2][13] Corominas lists interesado and interesante among its derivatives, and dates desinteresado to 1607.^[3]

Timeline

• 1529 – ynteresado “gained” in a document from Mexico City.^[7]
• early 17th century – Corominas's date for the verb.^[3]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines interesar or interesarse as “to profit from something”.^[8]
• 1817 – the Academy adds the transitive senses and the poetic “to move readers or listeners”.^[9]
• 1843 – “to inspire interest or affection in someone”.^[10]
• 1899 – “to hold the attention and feelings with what is said or written”.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To interest, to be of interest to someone: Esa novela no me interesa.^[2][1][12]
2. (transitive) To get someone interested; to catch the attention and feelings with what one says or writes.^[2][1]
3. (transitive) To inspire interest or affection in someone.^[2]
4. (transitive) To give someone a share in a business from which they may profit.^[2][12]
5. (transitive) To involve someone in another's affairs as if they were their own.^[2]
6. (transitive, medicine) Of a wound or disease: to affect or damage an organ.^[2][12]
7. (transitive) To request data, news or decisions from someone.^[2]
8. (reflexive) interesarse: to take or show an interest in someone or something; to ask after: Se interesó por tu madre.^[2][12]

Word family

• interesado
• interesante

Related words

• interés
• desinterés
• Latin intersum

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. interesar
3. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. interés
4. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. interesar
6. ^ 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, 359
7. ^ 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. interesar
8. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 292
9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 499
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 413
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 563
12. ^ a b c d e Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. interesar
13. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. interesar