obrar

Forms

obrar (first-person singular present obro, first-person singular preterite obré, past participle obrado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin operāre (“to work”), the active form that replaced operor (“to work, busy oneself”) in Late Latin.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} The Latin verb is derived from opus (“work”), or from opera (“work, labour”).^[5][6][7] operar is the learned doublet, recorded from 1737.^[5][1]

The same Latin verb is Portuguese obrar, Catalan obrar, Occitan obrar, French ouvrer and Italian operare.^[8][1] The noun goes back to Proto-Italic *opes- and Proto-Indo-European *h₃ep-os (“work”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the verb to about 1140, the Cantar de mio Cid, known from a 14th-century copy.^[5][9] There the participle describes the Moorish tents the Cid has won: tanto tendal obrado, “so many worked tent poles”.^[9][10] The Fazienda de Ultra Mar of the early 13th century has the infinitive.^[10][11]

Semantic evolution

In Old Spanish obrar meant “to work, make”, and also “to carry out” something immaterial;^[12][13] Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it of stones whose powers “work” an effect, and of making a carved object.^[14] The Diccionario de Autoridades added the sense said of medicines that take effect, and “to empty the bowels”.^[15] The legal and office sense “to be held, be on file”, as in obra en poder del juez, was added by Salvá in 1846 and by the Academy in 1869.^[12][13] Today the general verb of doing is hacer, and obrar is literary for “to act, behave” (obrar con prudencia).^[16][17]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has the participle obrado.^[5][9]
• c. 1211–1235 – the Fazienda de Ultra Mar uses the infinitive.^[10][11]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for “to take effect” and for building.^[14]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin operor as its equivalent.^[18]
• 1533 – first record from the Americas, in Cartagena.^[19]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the medical sense and “to empty the bowels”.^[15]
• 1869 – the Academy's dictionary adds “to be held (in someone's keeping)”.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To make or work at something.^[4]
2. (transitive) To carry out something immaterial: La fe puede obrar milagros.^[4][1]
3. (transitive) To build.^[4]
4. (intransitive) To act, behave: Hay que obrar con cuidado.^[1][16]
5. (intransitive) Of a thing: to take effect.^[4]
6. (intransitive, euphemistic) To defecate.^[4]
7. (intransitive) Of a thing: to be held somewhere: El informe obra en poder del notario.^[4]

Word family

• obrada
• reobrar

Related words

• huebra
• obrador
• operar
• Latin opus

Usage notes

Capacidad de obrar is the legal capacity to act.^[4][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. obrar
3. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. operare
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. obrar
5. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. obrar
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. operor
7. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6071
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. obrar
10. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. obrar
11. ^ a b 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. obrar
12. ^ a b Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 761
13. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 545
14. ^ 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. obrar
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 7
16. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. obrar
17. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. obrar
18. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 388
19. ^ 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. obrar