llamar

Forms

llamar (first-person singular present llamo, first-person singular preterite llamé, past participle llamado)^[1] Old Spanish clamar is the usual form in Berceo, the Auto de los Reyes Magos and the Fuero de Avilés; texts of the 13th century also have lamar and allamar.^[2][3][4] Judaeo-Spanish has yamar.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish clamar, inherited from Latin clāmō (“to shout, cry out”).^[2][6][7][1] The older spelling with ⟨cl⟩ is normal in Berceo and other early texts, while the Cid already has the form with ⟨ll⟩; the Glosas Silenses of the late 10th century write the Latin form.^[2] The learned doublet clamar “to cry out, clamour” was taken from Latin in the 15th century.^[2][6][1]

The same Latin verb is Portuguese chamar, Galician chamar, Italian chiamare and Romanian chema, with the sense “to call”.^[8][2][9] Corominas says that in Old French clamer, Old Occitan clamar and Catalan clamar only the learned sense “to cry out, proclaim” survived, though the Spanish use reaches the Pyrenean Gascon of Béarn;^[2] in his Catalan dictionary he also records a familiar Catalan sense “to name, call”.^[10]

De Vaan takes clāmō to be formed on a lost noun Proto-Italic *klāmā- or *klāmo- “shout”, which clāmor later replaced; he traces it to Proto-Indo-European *klh₁-m(o)- and connects it with calō (“to call out”).^[11] Wiktionary gives the root as *kelh₁- (“to shout”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Glosas Silenses of the second half of the 10th century have the Latin spelling clamare.^[2] In the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy) the Cid's men call out at a locked gate: „Los de mio Cid a altas vozes llaman, los de dentro non les querién tornar palabra” “the Cid's men call out in loud voices; those inside would not answer them a word”.^[12][6]

Semantic evolution

Latin clamare was intransitive or took the words shouted as its object, but it could also take a double accusative of the person and the name (Horace's clamare aliquem insanum) and, in popular authors, a single accusative of the person called, as in Plautus's clamare janitorem, which is close to the Spanish use.^[2] Old Spanish kept the construction with the name as object and the person in the dative: Berceo writes „clamávanlis los omnes traidores provados”; the double accusative (la llamó necia) is heard mainly in Spain.^[2] In the sense “to call someone to come” the verb is transitive, but older and regional writers also use it with le; in Argentina one says el Señor le llama, in Spain la llama.^[2]

Alfonso X's prose uses it for calling animals, invoking someone, summoning, and, as a noun, for a lament.^[13] Covarrubias (1611) gives “to invoke with cries”, “to summon by name”, llamarse “to be called” and “to summon before a court”.^[14] The Academy's dictionary of 1817 adds “to knock at the door” and “to provoke thirst”, said of salty or spicy food; in 1884 it adds ringing a bell or buzzer, and the current dictionary has “to telephone”.^[15][16][7]

In Chile llamar a Guajardo and in Central America and Colombia llamar a Hugo are euphemisms for vomiting.^[17] In Mexico ¿qué te llama Juan? asks how someone is related to you.^[18]

Timeline

• late 10th century – the Glosas Silenses write the Latin form clamare.^[2]
• c. 1140 – llamar in the Cantar de mio Cid (14th-century copy).^[12][6]
• 1208 – the Cortes of León, the earliest text with the verb in a contemporary copy.^[12]
• 1220–1250 – first record of the noun llamada.^[6]
• 1250–1300 – Alfonso X's Libro de los animales que cazan uses it for calling pigeons.^[13][19]
• 1280 – the noun llamar “lament” in the General estoria.^[13]
• 15th century – the learned doublet clamar, in the Marquis of Santillana.^[2][6]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin voco, nuncupo and appello.^[20]
• 1541 – the first record from the Americas, in Puebla.^[21]
• 1613 – first record of llamativo, in Cervantes.^[2][6]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary adds “to knock at the door”.^[15]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary first gives the etymology, “Del lat. clamare”.^[16]

Meanings

Verb

1. To call: to try to get someone's attention with the voice, a noise or a gesture: Llamé a mi hermano desde el balcón.^[7][1]
2. To phone, ring (also intransitive): Te llamo después de cenar.^[7][1]
3. To invoke, call on someone for help.^[7]
4. To summon: to ask someone to come to a place (also intransitive): Hubo que llamar a los bomberos.^[7][1]
5. To wake someone up.^[7]
6. To urge someone to behave in a certain way (also intransitive): llamar a la huelga.^[7]
7. To call, name: to give someone or something a name, title or epithet: En el pueblo lo llaman el Rubio.^[7][1]
8. To address someone in a given way: Me llama de usted.^[7]
9. To appoint someone to a post or to exercise a right.^[7]
10. To attract, appeal to: No me llama nada el teatro.^[7][1]
11. (intransitive) To knock at a door or ring the bell so that someone opens it.^[7][1]
12. (pronominal) To be called, have the name given: Mi perro se llama Toby.^[7][1]
13. (nautical, dated) Of the wind: to veer towards a given quarter.^[7][22]

Word family

• llamada
• llamado
• llamamiento
• llamativo
• llamador

Related words

• clamar
• clamor
• aclamar
• exclamar
• proclamar
• reclamar
• Latin clāmō
• Portuguese chamar

Usage notes

Corominas notes that the person called may be le or la: Argentine el Señor le llama, Peninsular la llama.^[2] Set phrases include llamar la atención “to attract attention” and llamar las cosas por su nombre “to call a spade a spade”.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 721
3. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. llamar
4. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando, p. 277
5. ^ Nehama, Joseph (1977), Dictionnaire du judéo-espagnol, Madrid: CSIC, p. s.v. yamar
6. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. llamar
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. llamar
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. clamare
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 1669
10. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 2, 729
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ 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. llamar
13. ^ 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. llamar
14. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1096
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 538
16. ^ 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. 656
17. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. llamar
18. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1959), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Porrúa, p. 669
19. ^ Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org, p. s.v. llamar
20. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 374
21. ^ 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. llamar
22. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 673