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parar

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word parar

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 950 Glosas Emilianenses More words from the 10th century
Inherited from
Latin paro via Old Spanish
Ultimate origin
Latin parō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin parō
Spanish parar
English pare
From the same root
Latin apparō ← parō
Latin imperō ← parō
Latin parābilis ← parō
Latin parātus ← parō
Latin praeparō ← parō
Latin reparō ← parō
Latin sēparō ← parō
Spanish parada ← parō

Pronunciation

  • /paˈɾaɾ/, [paˈɾaɾ][1]

Forms

parar (first-person singular present paro, first-person singular preterite paré, past participle parado)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish parar, inherited from Latin parō (“to prepare, arrange, provide”).[2][3][4][1] The Latin verb meant “to make ready, dispose, furnish”, and the Spanish senses grew out of that of “disposing”: first “to put in a certain state or position”, then “to place, set”, and the reflexive “to place oneself” led to the sense “to stop”.[2][3][5]

The same verb is Portuguese parar, Galician parar, Catalan parar, Occitan parar, French parer and Italian parare.[6][7] Corominas notes that the sense “to stop” is shared by the three Ibero-Romance languages and by Basque beratu in eastern Basque dialects, and is found in Portuguese as a transitive verb in 1318;[8] Catalan uses it less, because of the competing aturar.[2] The French and Italian sense “to ward off a blow” is a separate development, from “to prepare oneself”;[8] Spanish took it from French in the 18th century as a fencing term.[2][3]

De Vaan reports that the Latin verb is mostly explained as a verb formed on a noun *prH-o-, while Rix and the LIV derive it from a present *prHi̯e-, which he considers phonetically unlikely; it is related to pariō (“to bring forth, procure”).[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the verb to the beginnings of the language, the Glosas Emilianenses of about 950, and then the Cantar de mio Cid.[2][3] In the Cid it means “to set, place”: los comeres delant gelos paravan “they set the dishes before them”, and the reflexive a la puerta se paravan “they took their place at the door”.[2] The first hit in the CDH is the Cid's assí la avién parada, of a gate that had been barred shut, in the 14th-century copy of a poem of about 1140.[9]

Semantic evolution

From “to place oneself” came the sense “to stop”, which Corominas finds in the Libro de buen amor and which is normal at least from Nebrija; from the intransitive “to stop” came the transitive “to stop something”.[2][3] Alfonso X's prose already has “to cease moving”, “to end up” and “to lodge, stay”.[10] The older sense “to put” became antiquated in the late Middle Ages and survives mainly in parar mientes “to pay attention”, found in Juan Ruiz and Berceo.[2][11] Covarrubias in 1611 defined the verb as “to cease moving” and also recorded the gambling sense, staking money against another player.[12]

The medieval phrase pararse en pie “to place oneself on one's feet” was shortened to pararse “to stand up”, a use found throughout Spanish America and also in Asturias, Judeo-Spanish (from 1554) and the Canaries.[2][3][13] The Americas also use it for setting a thing upright and for getting out of bed.[14][1] Other survivals of the Latin “to prepare” are Aragonese parar la mesa “to lay the table” and Argentine parar el puchero “to feed the family”.[2][15] The fencing term “to parry” appears in Terreros, with French parer as its equivalent, and entered the Academy's dictionary in 1884.[2][16] Today the verb is also used in sport, of a goalkeeper who stops the ball, and of workers who strike.[4][17]

Timeline

  • c. 950 – first record, in the Glosas Emilianenses.[2][3]
  • c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses it for “to place, set”.[2][9]
  • 1251 – se paró de pie “he stood on his feet” in the Calila e Dimna.[3]
  • 1335 – first record of “to stop”, after Corominas.[3]
  • c. 1495 – Nebrija glosses pararse lo que anda with Latin sto and parar a lo que anda with sisto.[2]
  • 1554 – pararse “to stand up” in a Judeo-Spanish text.[3]
  • 1611 – Covarrubias records the sense “to cease moving” and the stake in gambling.[12]
  • 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades has the verb and the noun naming a card game.[18]
  • 1765–1783 – the fencing sense “to parry”, from French.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (transitive) To stop or halt someone or something: El guardia nos paró en la frontera.[4][1]
  2. (transitive) To prepare or get ready.[4]
  3. (transitive) To stake money or something of value in a game of chance.[4]
  4. (transitive, hunting) Of a dog: to point the game by standing still when it sees it.[4]
  5. (transitive, sports) Of a goalkeeper or another player: to stop the ball from going into the goal.[4]
  6. (transitive, fencing) To parry the opponent's blow with the sword.[4]
  7. (transitive, Murcia and Latin America) To set something or someone upright or on their feet; also reflexive, to stand up.[4][14][1]
  8. (transitive, obsolete) To put someone in a state different from before.[4]
  9. (intransitive) To stop moving or acting; to cease: El tren no para en este pueblo.[4][19]
  10. (intransitive) To end up somewhere or in some state: ¿Dónde habrá ido a parar mi paraguas?[4][19]
  11. (intransitive) To pass into someone's possession after other owners.[4]
  12. (intransitive) To turn into something other than was expected.[4]
  13. (intransitive) To lodge or stay somewhere.[20][10]
  14. (intransitive) To go on strike (huelga).[17]

Word family

  • parada
  • paradero
  • parador
  • paraje
  • paro
  • parado
  • parabrisas
  • paraguas
  • paracaídas
  • pararrayos
  • parachoques

Usage notes

The DLE has a separate headword parar² for a card game of the past, in which one card was drawn for the players and one for the banker and the first to match the cards that followed won; it is formed from parar “to stake money in a game”.[4] The Diccionario de Autoridades already describes the game, and the Academy gave it its own article from 1899.[18][21] The set phrase parar mientes means “to pay attention”.[2][12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 393
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. parar
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. parar
  5. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. parar
  6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 4799
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6229
  8. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. parar
  10. ^ 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. parar
  11. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 558
  12. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1193
  13. ^ Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. parar
  14. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. parar
  15. ^ Borao, Jerónimo (1908), Diccionario de voces aragonesas, 2nd ed., Zaragoza: Imprenta del Hospicio Provincial, p. 18
  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. 3, 38
  17. ^ a b Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. parar
  18. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 122
  19. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. parar
  20. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 789
  21. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 741

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Parar.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/parar. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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