para

Etymology

It probably continues inherited from Old Spanish pora with a changed vowel; that word was formed from Old Spanish por + a.^[2][3][4][1] The change of vowel was helped by the old preposition par, used in oaths and exclamations such as par Dios (“by God”);^[5] Menéndez Pidal showed that it is not a Gallicism but the native outcome of Latin per (“through”).^[2][3][5]

The Latin combination of prō (“for, before”) and ad (“to, towards”) appears in Portuguese documents of the end of the 9th century and in Leonese ones of 932.^[2] Corominas therefore follows Hanssen in taking it as the source of the Spanish and Portuguese word, rather than per ad, which old editions of charters of 956 and 969 show but which he thinks need checking; the Catalan per a “for” does continue per ad.^[2] García de Diego, and before him Cabrera and Monlau, derived the word from per ad.^[6][7][8]

Portuguese para has the same history, and medieval Portuguese, Spanish and Catalan also had Old Galician-Portuguese pera.^[2][6] Covarrubias derived it from the Greek preposition Ancient Greek παρά (pará), an idea of his time.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cid always has pora: tornós' pora su casa “she went back to her house”.^[10][2] Its manuscript once has para in the hand of the copyist Per Abbat, at line 775, a form Corominas thinks foreign to the original text.^[11][2] The first sure record of para is in Alfonso X's Setenario (c. 1250).^[2][3] A list of expenses dated by the CDH between c. 1218 and 1300 has both forms side by side: tempanos para las cubas “lids for the vats” and puertas pora la camara “doors for the chamber”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Pora remained the usual form through the 13th century, in Berceo, the Libro de Alexandre and a Leonese document of 1186.^[2] In the Primera Crónica General the parts written in Alfonso X's lifetime have pora, while the chapters of Sancho IV's reign already have para.^[2] Alfonso's prose uses the word for purpose, destination, a set time and the use a thing serves.^[12]

Para later replaced the old par in oaths too: para tu alma in the chronicle of Pedro de Corral (c. 1430) and para ésta in Tirso.^[2] Its use for “towards” (se fueron para allá) has medieval and classical antecedents and is today the ordinary usage in the Americas, as in Portuguese.^[2] In Lope and other classical writers para qué could mean “why”, and para que was occasionally causal, “because”.^[2]

The Academy's dictionaries from Autoridades on list the senses of purpose, possession and direction, and the edition of 1884 first gives the etymology “De pora”.^[13][14] Purists such as Baralt stressed the difference between para, the end or aim of an action, and por, its cause, which older writers often confused.^[15] In Judeo-Spanish the word has the same uses of purpose and destination.^[16]

Timeline

• 932 – Leonese documents have the Latin combination pro ad.^[2]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid always has pora (in a 14th-century copy).^[2][10]
• c. 1250 – first record of para, in the Setenario.^[2][3]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario still writes pora for purpose.^[12]
• c. 1290 – the last part of the Primera Crónica General has para.^[2]
• c. 1430 – para replaces par in an oath, in Pedro de Corral's chronicle.^[2]
• 1515 – first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[17]
• 1591 – Percyvall translates para “to, for” and para con “toward”.^[18]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from Greek.^[9]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary first gives the etymology, from pora.^[14]

Meanings

Preposition

1. for, to, in order to: marks the aim or end of an action: Ahorra para comprarse una bicicleta.^[4][1]
2. towards, to: marks direction or destination: Mañana salimos para Sevilla.^[4][1]
3. By, for: marks the time or place by which something is to be done: Lo tendré listo para el lunes.^[4][1]
4. For: marks the use or purpose of a thing: una caja para los tornillos.^[4]
5. For, considering: sets a state against what is expected of it: Está muy alto para su edad.^[4][1]
6. For: marks the ability of a person: No sirve para estos trabajos.^[4]
7. With estar and an infinitive, about to; with other verbs, disposed or ready to: El tren está para salir.^[4]
8. With mí, sí and other pronouns, marks something inward or not shared with others: pensó para sí.^[4]
9. For: marks the recipient of something: Estas flores son para tu madre.^[4][1]

Word family

• parabién
• parapoco

Related words

• por
• Portuguese para
• Latin prō

Usage notes

Common phrases are para con “towards, with regard to”, para que “so that” and para qué “what for”.^[4] In speech the word is often reduced to pa, a form Román recorded in Chile.^[1][19] In Colombia and Bolivia para is also a popular noun for a paramilitary, a clipping of paramilitar.^[20][1] The prefix para- “beside, against” is a separate word, from Greek.^[21]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 388
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. para
4. ^ 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. para
5. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México
6. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 4930
7. ^ Cabrera, Ramón (1837), Diccionario de etimologías de la lengua castellana, 2 vols., Madrid: Imprenta de Marcos Bueno, p. s.v. para
8. ^ Monlau, Pedro Felipe (1856), Diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana (ensayo), Madrid: Imprenta de la Sociedad Literaria y Tipográfica, p. 362
9. ^ 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. 1, 1192
10. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE
11. ^ Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 377
12. ^ 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)
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. para
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 787
15. ^ Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado, p. 490
16. ^ Nehama, Joseph (1977), Dictionnaire du judéo-espagnol, Madrid: CSIC, p. s.v. pâra
17. ^ 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. pa
18. ^ Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 184
19. ^ Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José, p. 133
20. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. para
21. ^ 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. para-