invernar

Forms

invernar (first-person singular present invierno or inverno, first-person singular preterite inverné, past participle invernado)^[1] Old Spanish had ivernar (yuernaron “they wintered” in Alfonso X's history), and Alfonso de Palencia wrote ynvernar.^[2][3][4] Nebrija preferred envernar, which is also Asturian.^[4][2] The present is invierno, with a diphthong, or, in modern use, also regular inverno.^[1][5]

Etymology

In the view of Corominas, the REW and García de Diego it is inherited from Latin hībernāre (“to spend the winter”).^{[4][6][7][2][1]} The DLE instead takes it from invierno.^[8] The noun was likewise Old Spanish ivierno before it took its modern form.^[4] The same Latin verb is Portuguese invernar, Catalan hivernar, French hiverner, Italian invernare and Romanian ierna.^[7][1] The learned form of the Latin word is hibernar.^[1][9]

The Latin verb is formed from hībernus (“of winter”), used especially of troops in winter quarters.^[10][1] The adjective was itself derived from hiems (“winter”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DEMel's first record is invernar in Alfonso X's Siete Partidas (1256–1265).^[11] The Alfonsine history of Spain uses it of an army: tornaron se pora las marismas de espanna. & yuernaron y “they went back to the marshes of Spain and wintered there”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Covarrubias defined it as spending the winter in a certain place, beside invernadero, a sheltered place for livestock.^[12] The Academy's dictionaries of the 19th century added the impersonal sense “to be winter”, and Domínguez the military and nautical uses: troops going into winter quarters, a ship laid up for the winter.^[13][14] In the Americas the verb is recorded from 1532 in Mexico.^[15] Alemany recorded in 1917 its American use for livestock living on winter pastures.^[16] In the Río de la Plata it also meant keeping cattle in paddocks to fatten them, and by allusion a long rest before a hard journey.^[17] Today the DLE gives the grazing sense for Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, and a transitive Uruguayan sense, fattening cattle on good pasture.^[8][18]

Timeline

• 1256–1265 – Alfonso X's Siete Partidas have invernar.^[11]
• 1284–1345 – the Alfonsine history of Spain has yuernaron.^[3]
• 1490 – Alfonso de Palencia writes ynvernar.^[4][6]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija prefers the form envernar.^[4]
• 1532 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico.^[15]
• 1591 – Percyvall translates it “to winter”.^[19]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it.^[12]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades notes the diphthong of invierno “I winter”.^[20]
• 1917 – Alemany records the American sense for livestock.^[16]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To spend the winter in a place; of animals, to winter or hibernate: Las grullas invernan en Extremadura.^[8][1][21]
2. (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay; intransitive) Of livestock, to graze in winter pastures.^[8][18]
3. (Uruguay; transitive) To fatten livestock on good pasture.^[8][18]

Word family

• invernada
• invernadero
• invernador

Related words

• invierno
• hibernar
• invernal
• Latin hībernō

Usage notes

Some grammarians insist on the diphthong (invierno, inviernas), as the Diccionario de Autoridades gave it.^[5][20]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 3254
3. ^ a b c 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. invernar
4. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 461
5. ^ a b Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José, p. 213
6. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. invierno
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d e 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. invernar
9. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. invernar
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. invernar
12. ^ 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. 1051
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 415
14. ^ 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. 1011
15. ^ 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. envernar
16. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 965
17. ^ Bayo, Ciro (1910), Vocabulario criollo-español sud-americano, Madrid: Hernando, p. 114
18. ^ 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. invernar
19. ^ Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 159
20. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 302
21. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. invernar