participar

Forms

participar (first-person singular present participo, first-person singular preterite participé, past participle participado)^[1] Old Spanish texts also spell it partiçipar.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin participō (“to share; to take part”).^[3][1][4] The Latin verb is formed from particeps (“sharing, partaking; a sharer”), a compound of pars (“part”) and the element -ceps (“taking”) of capiō (“to take”).^[5][6][4] Covarrubias already explained the word in the same way, as a compound of parte and the Latin verb for “to take”.^[7] The Latin verb meant both “to have a share in” and “to give a share of, impart”, and Bénaben sees in the second the source of the Spanish sense “to announce”.^[8][9]

The same Latin verb was borrowed as Portuguese participar, Catalan participar, French participer and Italian partecipare.^[10][11][12] French took it in the 13th century.^[12] The noun partícipe (“participant”), recorded from 1569, is the learned form of the Latin adjective.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first Spanish record in the CDH, after a Latin participare in the Fuero de Zorita, is the astrological Judizios de las estrellas (1254–1260), part of Alfonso X's prose: si Mercurio participare con ella “if Mercury has a share with it”, that is, shares in the influence of another planet.^[2][13] The sense is “to have a part in something”.^[13] The DEMel lists the forms participan and participar in a document of Las Huelgas of Burgos dated 1250.^[14] The date 1457 that DICCA-XV reports from the DCECH is much later.^[15]

Semantic evolution

The Diccionario de Autoridades gives three senses: to have a part in something, to receive something from another as one's share, and, as a transitive verb, to give notice of something.^[16] Corominas also puts “to take part” first and “to give notice of a piece of news” after it.^[6] The Academy's 1817 edition puts the transitive “to give notice” first, as do its later editions.^[17][18] The DLE adds to share someone's opinions and to have a share in a company or business.^[3]

Moliner notes that in the first person the transitive verb gives the sentence a curt tone: te participo que… “I'll have you know that…”.^[19] In Honduras participar en la vela y en el entierro is said of someone who meddles in matters that are not his concern.^[20]

Timeline

• 1254–1260 – first recorded in Spanish, in the Judizios de las estrellas.^[2][13]
• 1293 – the spelling partiçipamos in the Castigos of Sancho IV.^[2]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin participo.^[15]
• 1516 – an early record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[21]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from parte and capio.^[7]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the transitive “to give notice”.^[16]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology, Latin participare.^[22]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To participate or take part in something: Más de cien atletas participaron en la carrera.^[3][1]
2. (intransitive) To receive a share of something: Todos los socios participan de los beneficios.^[3][19]
3. (intransitive) To share the same opinions or ideas as another person.^[3]
4. (intransitive) To have a share in a company or business, or be a partner in it.^[3]
5. (transitive) To inform someone of something, give notice of it: Nos participaron la noticia por carta.^[3][19]

Word family

• participación
• participante

Related words

• partícipe
• participio
• parte
• particular
• Latin particeps

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. participar
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. participar
4. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. participar
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. parte
7. ^ 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. 1196
8. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. participar
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. participar
11. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. participar
12. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
13. ^ a b c 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. participar
14. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. participar
15. ^ 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. participar
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 138
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 642
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 745
19. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. participar
20. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. participar
21. ^ 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. participar
22. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 793