Etymologically
Log in

mover

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Spanish word mover

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1140 Cantar de mio Cid More words from the 12th century
Inherited from
Latin moveo via Old Spanish
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *m(y)ewh₁-
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin moveō
Italian muovere
Spanish mover
Derivations
From the same root
Latin admoveō ← moveō
Latin āmoveō ← moveō
Latin commoveō ← moveō
Latin dēmoveō ← moveō
Latin dīmoveō ← moveō
Latin ēmoveō ← moveō
Latin mōbilis ← moveō
Latin momen ← moveō
Latin mōmentum ← moveō
Latin mōtor ← moveō
Latin mōtus ← moveō
Latin mōvimentum ← moveō
Latin obmoveo ← moveō
Latin permoveō ← moveō
Latin prōmoveō ← moveō
Latin removeō ← moveō
Latin sēmōtus ← moveō
Latin sēmoveō ← moveō
Latin submoveō ← moveō
Italian movimento ← muovere

Pronunciation

  • /moˈbeɾ/, [moˈβ̞eɾ][1]

Forms

mover (first-person singular present muevo, first-person singular preterite moví, past participle movido)[1] Medieval texts mostly write mouer, with forms like mouio and mueue.^(DEMel|s.v. mover(se)) Autoridades notes that the stressed o becomes ue in some persons and tenses (muevo, mueva).[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish mover, inherited from Latin moveō (“to move”).[3][4][5][1] The word has been in use in every period and is common to all the western Romance languages:[3] Portuguese mover, Galician mover, Catalan moure, Occitan mòure, French mouvoir and Italian muovere.[6][7][1] Catalan soon replaced the old mover by an infinitive in ⟨-re⟩.[8] The diphthong ⟨ue⟩ of the stressed forms (⟨muevo⟩, ⟨mueve⟩) continues the stressed short ⟨o⟩ of the Latin verb.[2][3]

De Vaan derives the Latin verb from Proto-Italic *mow(a)- and Proto-Indo-European *m(i̯)euh₁- (“to move”), an aorist root; he compares Hittite mau- (“to fall”) and Sanskrit forms meaning “to push”.[9][10] Wiktionary writes the root as *m(y)ewh₁-.[1] The English verb move is a cognate through French.[1]

The same Latin verb gave Spanish learned words and loans: momento, motivo, motor, móvil, remoto, and through French emoción and motín.[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is in the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy), where mover means “to set out, start off”: the men must load the chests, ca a mover á mio Cid ante que cante el gallo “for my Cid is to set out before the cock crows”.[3][4][11] The first CDH hit not known from a later copy is in the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250), about a woman who knowingly mouiere la crianzon “aborts the child”.[11]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages mover often meant “to set out, leave”, as in Old French and in English move;[3] Berceo also uses it for “to prompt, incite”.[12] Alfonso X uses it for moving a thing, for the shaking of the waves, for persuading someone and, followed by a, for causing something.[13] The sense “to miscarry” is in Nebrija,[3] and Covarrubias (1611) records mover la mujer preñada with the coarse noun muévedo “miscarried foetus”.[14]

The 1817 dictionary adds “to inspire” (Dios movió el corazón de fulano) and the architectural sense “to begin an arch”,[15] and the 1843 edition “to begin to sprout”, of plants.[16] The senses “to miscarry” and “to set out” are now obsolete.[5] In the United States moverse means “to move house”.[17]

Timeline

  • c. 1140 – mover “to set out” in the Cantar de mio Cid (in a 14th-century copy).[3][11]
  • 1218–c. 1250 – mouiere la crianzon “to abort the child” in the Fuero de Zorita.[11]
  • c. 1250 – the noun movimiento.[4]
  • 1254 – Alfonso X uses it for “to cause, stir up” (mouer sa la lid).[13]
  • 1515 – the first record from the Americas, in Tierra Firme.[18]
  • 1611 – Covarrubias records mover la mujer preñada “to miscarry”.[14]
  • 1734 – Autoridades notes the alternation of o and ue.[2]
  • 1817 – the Academy adds the senses “to inspire” and “to begin an arch”.[15]
  • 1843 – the sense “to begin to sprout”.[16]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (transitive, also reflexive) To move, make a body leave its place for another.[5][1]
  2. (transitive) To shake or stir a thing or part of the body: mover la cola.[5][1][2]
  3. (transitive, also intransitive) To prompt or induce someone to do something: La pobreza lo movió a emigrar.[5][1]
  4. (transitive) To cause something;[1][19] mover a compasión “to move to pity”.[5]
  5. (transitive) To stir up feelings, to touch.[5]
  6. (transitive) To start something in the moral sphere: mover guerra “to wage war”.[5]
  7. (agriculture, intransitive) Of a plant, to begin to sprout in spring.[5]
  8. (architecture, intransitive) Of an arch or vault, to spring.[5]
  9. (reflexive) To get going, to hurry; to make efforts for something.[1][19]
  10. (obsolete) To miscarry; to set out, leave.[5][3]

Word family

  • movedizo
  • movedor
  • movible
  • movido
  • movida
  • movimiento
  • conmover
  • remover
  • promover
  • inmovible
  • semoviente

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 619
  3. ^ 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. 4, 169
  4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. mover
  5. ^ 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. mover
  6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5703
  7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 4455
  8. ^ 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. 5, 823
  9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. moveō
  10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. moueō
  11. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. mover
  12. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 508
  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), p. s.v. mover
  14. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1151
  15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 587
  16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 487
  17. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. mover
  18. ^ 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. mover
  19. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. mover

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Mover.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/mover. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·