liar

Forms

liar (first-person singular present lío, first-person singular preterite lie, past participle liado)^[1]

Etymology

Corominas takes it as borrowed from French lier (“to tie, bind”), itself from ligō (“to tie, bind”), because he found it only from the early 17th century, beside the inherited Old Spanish legar and the semi-learned ligar.^[2][3] Gómez de Silva and Segura Munguía follow him, while the DLE, Moliner and García de Diego derive it directly from the Latin verb.^{[4][5][6][7][8]} Wiktionary allows a borrowing from lier in the Middle Ages, and the verb is in fact recorded in the 13th century.^[1][9][10]

Corominas observes that the loss of the ⟨g⟩ cannot be explained like that of lidiar or humear, where the consonant stood in a weaker position than in the stressed present forms.^[2] The same Latin verb is Portuguese ligar, whose Old Portuguese forms included liar, Catalan lligar, Italian legare and Romanian lega.^[11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first true record is the Historia troyana en prosa y verso (c. 1270, in a copy of the mid-14th century): liaronle la ferida e apretarongela muy bien con vn paño de çendal “they bound up his wound and pressed it tight with a cloth of sendal”.^[9] Alfonso X's General Estoria says that a princess had no need to liar se los cabellos “tie up her hair”.^[10] Corominas's first record is the Quijote (1605), where Don Quixote's arms are tied onto Rocinante.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Corominas suggests the verb may have spread as a nautical Gallicism (liar un cabo, liar el petate).^[2] By the 17th century it had produced lía “esparto rope” (Covarrubias) and lío “bundle” (Quijote, 1615), and liarlas “to run away” appears in Polo de Medina.^[2][3] The Academy's 1884 edition added the figurative “to deceive, embroil” and liarlas “to die”.^[13] Later senses are rolling a cigarette, confusing someone and, in the reflexive, starting to do something with vehemence and having an affair.^[6][7] In colloquial Spain liarse also means “to make out”.^[1] In Andalusia it means “to lie, muddle”, and in Argentina Garzón found it used only transitively, for wrapping things.^[14][15]

Timeline

• c. 1270 – the Historia troyana has liaronle la ferida.^[9]
• 1272–1275 – Alfonso X's General Estoria has liar se los cabellos.^[10]
• 1515 – the first record from the Americas, in Puerto Rico.^[16]
• 1605 – the Quijote, Corominas's first record.^[2][3]
• 1615 – the derivative lío in the second part of the Quijote.^[2][3]
• 1734 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as tying bales and loads.^[17]
• 1884 – the Academy adds “to deceive” and liarlas.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. To tie and secure bales and loads with ropes (lías).^[6][1]
2. To wrap something, usually tying it with paper, string or ribbon.^[6][1]
3. To roll a cigarette: Lió un cigarrillo con tabaco de pipa.^[6][1]
4. (colloquial, also reflexive) To deceive someone, draw them into a commitment; to confuse.^[6][7][1]
5. (obsolete) To make an alliance with someone.^[6]
6. (reflexive, with a) To set about doing something with vehemence: Los niños se liaron a cantar.^[6]
7. (reflexive, with a) To come to blows: Se liaron a puñetazos en la calle.^[6]
8. (reflexive) Of two people: to have an affair, live together unmarried.^[6][7]
9. (reflexive, Spain, colloquial) To make out, hook up.^[1]

Word family

• lío
• lía
• desliar
• liaza

Related words

• ligar
• legajo
• aliar
• Latin ligō
• French lier

Usage notes

Liarla means “to make a mess of things, to put one's foot in it”, and liarlas “to run away” or, colloquially, “to die”.^[6] The inherited legar survives in Cespedosa for tying up sheep before shearing.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 3, 647
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ligar
4. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 421
5. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 425
6. ^ 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. liar
7. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. liar
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 3863
9. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. liar
10. ^ 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. liar
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 2040
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 642
14. ^ Alcalá Venceslada, Antonio (1951), Vocabulario andaluz, Madrid: Real Academia Española, p. 361
15. ^ Garzón, Tobías (1910), Diccionario argentino, Barcelona: Imprenta Elzeviriana de Borrás y Mestres, p. 278
16. ^ 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. liar
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 395