obtener

Forms

obtener (first-person singular present obtengo, first-person singular preterite obtuve, past participle obtenido)^[1] Documents of 1707 from Nuevo León have ostener and the preterite ostuvo.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin obtineō (“to hold, maintain; to obtain”), adapted to the conjugation of tener.^[3][1][4] The Latin verb is formed from ob- and teneō (“to hold”).^[5][1] Corominas glosses the Latin as “to possess fully, to keep, maintain”, and Vox dates the borrowing to the 15th century.^[4][6]

De Vaan derives the simple verb from Proto-Indo-European *tn-eh₁- (“to hold”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first records are in the Aragonese translations of Juan Fernández de Heredia (1376–1396); in the Historia troyana the lord of a kingdom objects that strangers have entered his land non obtenida licencia del “without having obtained his leave”.^[8][9] The dates given by the dictionaries are later: 1412 in DICCA-XV, about 1440 in the BDELC, and 1499, in the Comendador Griego, in the DCECH.^[10][11][4]

Semantic evolution

Heredia already uses it for “to obtain” (peace, perfection) and “to hold” (a kingdom for fourteen years).^[8] The Diccionario de Autoridades gives both senses, “to attain” and “to have, keep, maintain”, the second with a quotation from the Comendador Griego.^[12] The derivative obtención is recorded from 1737.^[11] The sense “to produce or extract a material” is in the Academy's dictionary by 2001.^[13]

Timeline

• 1376–1396 – Juan Fernández de Heredia's Historia troyana.^[8]
• 1412 – DICCA-XV's first date.^[10]
• c. 1440 – the BDELC's first date.^[11]
• 1499 – the Comendador Griego: the DCECH's first date.^[4]
• 1664 – first record from the Americas, in Nuevo León.^[2]
• 1737 – Autoridades records it, with the derivative obtención.^[12][11]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology obtinere.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. To obtain, achieve or get something one deserves, asks for or seeks: Obtuvo una beca para estudiar fuera.^[3][1][15]
2. To have, keep, maintain.^[3]
3. To produce or extract a material or product from certain things or in a certain way.^[3][6]

Word family

• obtención

Related words

• tener
• detener
• retener
• contener
• pertenecer

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. obtener
3. ^ a b c d 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. obtener
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 461
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. obtener
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ 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. obtener
9. ^ 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. obtener
10. ^ a b 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, p. s.v. obtener
11. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. tener
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 12
13. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. obtener
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 752
15. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. obtener