percibir

Forms

percibir (first-person singular present percibo, first-person singular preterite percibí, past participle percibido)^[1] Old Spanish wrote percebir (percebida in the Auto de los Reyes Magos, perçebido in the Libro de Alexandre); the Autoridades still noted in 1737 that some said percebir, and percebir is common in texts from the Americas until the 17th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It continues inherited from Latin percipiō (“to seize; to gather; to perceive”).^[5][6][7][1] Vox calls it a popular word, not a learned one.^[8] The Latin verb, whose first senses were “to take possession of” and “to receive”, and then “to perceive, feel”, is formed from Latin per- + capiō (“to take”), like concebir and recibir.^[5][9][1]

The same Latin verb is Portuguese perceber, Catalan percebre, Occitan percebre, French percevoir, Italian percepire and Romanian pricepe.^[10][11][12] De Vaan reconstructs the root of the simple verb as Proto-Indo-European *kh₂p-, or as a non-Indo-European root meaning “to seize”, and compares Ancient Greek κάπτω (káptō, “to gulp down”).^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Auto de los Reyes Magos (end of the 12th century), where Melchior speaks of the star: Tredze días á, i mais non auerá, que la auemos ueida i bine percebida “It is thirteen days, and will be no more, since we saw it and clearly perceived it”.^[2][5][14] In the 13th century the participle often meant “prepared, ready”: Berceo bids the faithful stay percebida against temptation, and the Libro de Alexandre calls Darius omne perçebido “a man forewarned”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The prose of Alfonso X uses the verb for perceiving through the senses, for understanding, for preparing what is needed and for warning someone.^[15] The senses “prepare” and “warn” later passed to apercibir, recorded from 1220–1250, while percibir kept perception and understanding.^[6][5] In 1579 a Mexican text still has venía percibido “came prepared”.^[4]

The Autoridades (1737) put first the sense “to receive and take charge of something”, as of money or rents, then “to understand” and “to receive through the senses”; this order remained in the Academy's dictionary, which in 1884 gave the etymology for the first time.^[3][16] Terreros (1793) put perception first, with French apercevoir and percevoir for the two main senses.^[17] Moliner too begins with perception and gives the receiving of a salary or pension second.^[18]

Timeline

• c. 1180 – percebida in the Auto de los Reyes Magos.^[2][5]
• c. 1230 – Berceo uses the infinitive percebir.^[2]
• 1272–1275 – Alfonso X's General Estoria uses it for “understand” and “warn”.^[15]
• 1579 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico.^[4]
• early 17th century – the learned percepción is borrowed from Latin.^[6]
• 1737 – the Autoridades lists three senses and notes the variant percebir.^[3]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin percipere.^[16]

Meanings

Verb

1. To receive something, especially money owed, and take charge of it: Cada socio percibe una parte de los beneficios.^[7][18]
2. To perceive images, impressions or sensations through one of the senses: Desde la ventana se percibía el rumor del mar.^[7][18][1]
3. To understand or come to know something.^[7]

Word family

• apercibir
• desapercibido

Related words

• percepción
• perceptible
• perceptivo
• concebir
• recibir
• Latin percipiō
• Portuguese perceber

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. percibir
3. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 213
4. ^ a b c 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. percebir
5. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 165
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. percibir
7. ^ 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. percibir
8. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. percibir
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. percipiō
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. percipere
11. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 549
12. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. percebre
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. percibir
15. ^ 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. percibir
16. ^ 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. 813
17. ^ 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, 94
18. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. percibir