oferta

Forms

oferta f (plural ofertas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Catalan oferta, or a word of another Gallo-Romance language, from Vulgar Latin *offerita, an old past participle of Latin offerō (“to offer”).^[2][3][1] Corominas argues that the absence of such a participle in Castilian and the lack of a diphthong show that the word was taken from Catalan, as a commercial term, or from Gallo-Romance, perhaps through the monks of Cluny.^[2] Prat Sabater counts it among the words that came from Catalan or Gallo-Romance.^[4] The DLE and Vox, however, treat it as a popular word from the same Vulgar Latin form.^[5][6] Diphthongised forms do occur: wills of 1250 and 1254 write offierta, and Asturian has ofierta for an offering of grain or bread.^[7][2]

Gómez de Silva also allows Late Latin offerta, and explains both forms as feminines of participles, *offeritus and offertus, that replaced the classical oblātus.^[8] The same form gave Italian offerta, and Basque borrowed it as oberta (“offertory bread”).^[9] The Latin verb is ob- (“towards”) and ferō (“to carry”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is a charter of 1114, and the form oferda appears in the Disputa del alma y el cuerpo (c. 1200).^[2][3] The earliest CDH hit, a will of 1250, asks for good, honoured masses and an offierta pora todo el anno “an offering for the whole year”: the first sense is an offering to the church for the dead.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The word was rare in the old language: it is missing from Alonso de Palencia, Nebrija and the Quijote.^[2] In 1387 the Cortes of Briviesca speak of the buena oferta of those who offered to serve the king, and in 1527 a letter from Honduras mentions las ofertas que le hize para le ganar la voluntad “the offers I made him to win his goodwill”.^[7][10] Covarrubias has it, and Autoridades defined it as a promise to give, do or carry out something, quoting Ribadeneira.^[2][11]

In 1869 the Academy added the commercial sense, goods presented for sale.^[12] Economics made it the supply of goods on the market, as in la ley de la oferta y la demanda.^[5][13] Today it also means a sale at a reduced price and the reduced product itself.^[5][14] The verb ofertar is recorded in Argentina in 1940.^[2] In León an oferta is still the basket of bread blessed at Sunday mass, the bread and wine brought to a funeral, or a pie.^[15]

Timeline

• 1114 – a charter in Oelschläger's list.^[2][3]
• c. 1200 – the form oferda in the Disputa del alma y el cuerpo.^[2]
• 1250 – a will has offierta, an offering for the dead.^[7]
• 1387 – the Cortes of Briviesca use oferta for an offer of service.^[7]
• 1527 – the first record from the Americas, in Honduras.^[10]
• 1786–1793 – Terreros gives the sense “gift, dedication”.^[16]
• 1869 – the Academy's dictionary adds the commercial sense.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary derives it from Latin offerre.^[17]
• 1940 – the verb ofertar in an Argentine newspaper.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A promise to give, do or carry out something.^[5][14]
2. A gift offered to someone for them to accept.^[5][14]
3. An offer, a proposal to make a contract: Le hicieron una oferta de trabajo en Lima.^[5][1]
4. The putting of a product on sale.^[5]
5. A sale at a reduced price;^[1] de oferta or en oferta, on special offer.^[5][14]
6. A product sold at a reduced price, a bargain.^[5][1]
7. (economics) supply: the goods offered on the market at a given price and time.^[5][1]

Word family

• ofertar
• ofertón

Related words

• ofrecer
• ofrenda
• ofertorio
• oblea
• Latin offerō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 632
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ofrecer
4. ^ Prat Sabater, Marta (2003), Préstamos del catalán en el léxico español, doctoral thesis, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, p. 109
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. oferta
6. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. oferta
7. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. oferta
8. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 503
9. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 515
10. ^ 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. oferta
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 20
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 548
13. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. oferta
14. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. oferta
15. ^ Le Men Loyer, Janick (2002–2012), Léxico del leonés actual, 4 vols., León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación San Isidoro; electronic version, Universidad de León, p. s.v. oferta
16. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 2, 697
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 754