lidiar

Forms

lidiar (first-person singular present lidio, first-person singular preterite lidié, past participle lidiado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin lītigāre (“to dispute, quarrel, go to law”).^[2][3][4][1] Corominas notes that the Latin verb survives as a popular word only in Spanish and in Portuguese lidar, and that its change of sense from quarrelling with words to fighting goes together with that of lid.^[2][5] Medieval Latin already used it for “to fight”,^[6][7] and charters of the 12th century write it Medieval Latin litiare, as in the Fuero de Peralta of 1144.^[8][9] The learned doublet is litigar, first recorded in 1444.^[3][1]

The Latin verb is formed from līs (“lawsuit, dispute”), with a suffix that Segura and Gómez de Silva connect with agō (“to do, drive”).^[10][11][12] The noun goes back to the older form stlīs and probably to Proto-Indo-European *sliH-ti-, cognate with Old Irish liid (“to accuse”).^[13][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the verb from a charter of 1074.^[2][3] The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) uses it for fighting in battle, lidiando con moros en el campo “fighting with the Moors in the field”,^[14][8] and also for maintaining an accusation by single combat: estot lidiaré aqui ante rey don Alfons “I will prove this by combat here before King Alfonso”.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

Corominas finds the verb frequent at every period; the Libro de Alexandre also uses it transitively for attacking a city.^[2] Alfonso X's prose has it for fighting and for opposing something, as the mercy of one prince lidiaua against the cruelty of the others.^[15] Nebrija gave lidiar in single combat as Latin certo.^[16] The Diccionario de Autoridades added the figurative sense of dealing continually with people who give trouble.^[17]

The 1817 Academy dictionary first recorded the transitive sense of running and dodging bulls and other beasts, and marked “to litigate” as obsolete;^[18] bulls were already lidiados in Mexico City and Lima in the 1550s.^[19] Corominas notes that popular speech in Spain now uses it mainly for fighting a bull or for arguing stubbornly with someone, and that in Argentina it means to toil for something.^[2] In the Dominican Republic it is to set a cock to fight,^[20] and in the Canaries to get along with someone.^[21]

Timeline

• 1074 – a charter, the DCECH's first record.^[2][3]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid (14th-century copy) uses it for battle and for judicial combat.^[14][8]
• 1144 – the Latin of the Fuero de Peralta has litiabo.^[8]
• 1444 – the learned doublet litigar is first recorded.^[3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija's dictionary.^[16]
• 1554 – bulls are lidiados at a festivity in Mexico City.^[19]
• 1734 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the figurative sense “to deal with troublesome people”.^[17]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary records the bullfighting sense.^[18]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, bullfighting) To fight a bull (toro), dodging its charges according to the rules of the art until it is killed.^[4][1]
2. (intransitive) To fight, do battle.^[4][1]
3. To face or oppose someone.^[4][1]
4. To deal with, put up with or cope with troublesome people or things: Cada día tiene que lidiar con clientes difíciles.^[4][1][22]
5. (obsolete) To litigate, go to law.^[4][1]
6. (Dominican Republic) To set a fighting cock to fight.^[20]

Word family

• lidia
• lidiador

Related words

• lid
• litigar
• litigio
• Portuguese lidar

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 Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 644
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. lid
4. ^ a b c d e f 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. lidiar
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. litigare
6. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. litigare
7. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. s.v. litigare
8. ^ a b c d e Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 326
9. ^ a b Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando, p. 273
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. lītigō
11. ^ 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. 378
12. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. lidiar
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ 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. lidiar
15. ^ 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. lidiar
16. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 371
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 402
18. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 529
19. ^ 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. lidear
20. ^ a b Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. lidiar
21. ^ Academia Canaria de la Lengua (2010), Diccionario básico de canarismos, Santa Cruz de Tenerife; online at https://www.academiacanarialengua.org, p. s.v. lidiar
22. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. lidiar