juzgar

Forms

juzgar (first-person singular present juzgo, first-person singular preterite juzgué, past participle juzgado)^[1] Old Spanish had judgar (Berceo, Juan Ruiz, still Santillana), iubgar (Conde Lucanor), julgar (Libro de Alexandre, as in Leonese and Portuguese) and jurgar in the fueros of Jaca and Navarre.^[2] The form juzgar was established by the end of the 15th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin iūdicāre (“to judge”), through Old Spanish judgar.^[2][3][4][1] Corominas treats it under juez, its Latin base iūdex being the source of that word.^[2] Wiktionary names the borrowed judicar as its doublet.^[1]

The same Latin verb is Portuguese julgar and Galician julgar;^[5] older dictionaries add French juger and Italian giudicare.^[6]

iūdicō is formed from iūdex (“judge”),^[7][1] which Wiktionary analyses as iūs (“law”) and the root of dīcō (“to say”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas finds the Latin spelling in the Glosas Silenses of the late 10th century, and the Romance forms jutgar or julgar in the Fuero de Avilés of 1155.^[2][3] The Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy) has the subjunctive in a plea to God: „Vealo Dios e lo judgue” “may God see it and judge it”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose uses the verb for forming a judgement, for condemning someone to a loss and for deciding.^[9] Nebrija preferred juzgar, and the noun juzgado dates from the same years.^[2][3]

Covarrubias in 1611 gives “to sentence in court”, “to note the faults of others” and the astrologer's casting of a horoscope, with the phrase juzgar a derecho de su dedo, to judge as one pleases.^[10] The Diccionario de Autoridades adds God's judgement of mankind at the end of time and the intransitive “to form an opinion”.^[11] The Academy already listed the obsolete “to condemn someone to lose something, confiscate” in 1817, and added the philosophical sense in 1884.^[12][13] The purist Baralt warned in 1855 against using it in every sense of French juger.^[14]

In Mexico and Guatemala juzgar also means to spy on someone or to pry.^[15]

Timeline

• 950–1000 – the Glosas Silenses have the verb in its Latin spelling.^[2]
• 1155 – first Romance forms, jutgar or julgar, in the Fuero de Avilés.^[2][3]
• c. 1200 – the Fazienda de Ultra Mar has judgue.^[8]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses iudgara for judging rightly.^[9]
• late 14th century – the modern form juzgar.^[3][16]
• 1495 – Nebrija prefers juzgar; first record of juzgado.^[2][3]
• 1519 – first record in the Americas, in Puerto Rico.^[17]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records juzgar a derecho de su dedo.^[18]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary adds the philosophical sense and the etymology Latin iudicare.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. Of a judge or court: to try someone, deciding whether his conduct breaks the law, and pass sentence: Mañana juzgan al alcalde por corrupción.^[4][1]
2. Of a judge or court: to try a matter, deciding whether an act breaks the law.^[4]
3. To form an opinion of someone or something; also intransitive: No hay que juzgar a nadie por su ropa.^[4][19]
4. To consider someone or something to be as stated: Juzgó prudente esperar un poco.^[4][1]
5. To believe, think.^[4]
6. (philosophy) To affirm the relations between two or more ideas after comparing them.^[4][13]
7. (obsolete) To condemn someone to lose something; to confiscate.^[19][20]
8. (Mexico, Guatemala) To spy on someone; to pry.^[15]

Word family

• juzgado
• juzgador
• juzgamiento
• prejuzgar

Related words

• adjudicar
• juez
• juicio
• judicial
• perjudicar
• judicar
• Latin iūdicō
• Portuguese julgar

Usage notes

A juzgar por means “judging by”.^[19][1] Cosa juzgada is a matter already decided by a final judgement.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 536
3. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. juez
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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. juzgar
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. judicare
6. ^ Barcia, Roque (1880–1883), Primer diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Tipográfico de Álvarez Hermanos, p. 286
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. iudico
8. ^ 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. juzgar
9. ^ 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. juzgar
10. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1023
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 338
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 512
13. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 622
14. ^ Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado, p. 404
15. ^ 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. juzgar
16. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 344
17. ^ 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. judgar
18. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1029
19. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. juzgar
20. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 451