mejorar

Forms

mejorar (first-person singular present mejoro, first-person singular preterite mejoré, past participle mejorado)^[1] Old Spanish wrote meiorar, and 16th-century texts from the Americas mexorar.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin meliōrō (“to make better”), a verb formed from melior (“better”).^[4][1][5] Corominas and Gómez de Silva instead treat it as a Spanish derivative of mejor with the verb ending -ar, and Wiktionary notes the same analysis.^[6][7][8][1]

The Latin verb continues in Portuguese melhorar, Galician mellorar, Catalan millorar, Occitan melhorar and Italian migliorare.^[1][9][5] French améliorer was remade in 1507 after the Latin comparative from Old French ameillorer.^[10] Spanish medrar “to thrive”, used by Berceo, is according to Corominas a reduced form of this verb through a stage *mejdrar; the REW places it directly under the Latin verb.^[6][9]

De Vaan reconstructs the Latin comparative as *mel-iōs but calls the etymology weak, since the Greek cognate he cites, Ancient Greek μάλα (mála, “very”), shows no trace of an e-grade.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The BDELC dates the verb to 1107.^[7] In the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) the hero's men rejoice: ya mejoraremos posadas a dueños e a cavallos “now we shall find better lodgings for masters and horses”.^[12][6]

Semantic evolution

In the prose of Alfonso X and his school the verb already meant to make something better, to get well, and to make good a wrong: the count asks the king of Navarre quel meiorasse los tuertos “to make amends for the wrongs”.^[13] In legal use it meant giving an heir more: Covarrubias in 1611 explains mejorar en el testamento as leaving one child a larger share, within what the law allows.^[14] The modern dictionary adds the bidder who raises the price at an auction and the weather that improves.^[4]

Timeline

• 1107 – first record according to the BDELC.^[7]
• c. 1140 – mejoraremos posadas in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[12]
• 1236 – a deed of sale in Centollinos promises land dupplada e meiorada “doubled and improved”.^[12]
• 1250–1279 – the Lapidario of Alfonso X uses the verb for recovering from illness.^[13]
• 1370 – first record of the noun mejora.^[7]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives melioresco for “to improve each day”.^[15]
• 1567 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico: hasta que los negocios se mexoren “until business improves”.^[3]
• 1611 – Covarrubias explains the testamentary sense.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To improve, to make something better: Han mejorado mucho el servicio de trenes.^[4][1]
2. (transitive) To make someone better, to restore their health.^[4]
3. (transitive) Of a bidder: to raise the price offered at a sale or auction.^[4]
4. (transitive, law) To leave an heir a larger share in a will.^[4][14]
5. (intransitive, also reflexive) To recover, to get well: El enfermo se mejoró en pocos días.^[4][1]
6. (intransitive, also reflexive) Of the weather: to become milder or more favourable.^[4]
7. (intransitive, also reflexive) To move to a better position or rank than before.^[4]

Word family

• medrar
• mejora
• mejoramiento
• mejorable
• desmejorar

Related words

• mejor
• mejoría
• Latin melior
• Portuguese melhorar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. mejorar
5. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 11
7. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. mejor
8. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
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
13. ^ 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)
14. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1126
15. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv