pescar

Forms

pescar (first-person singular present pesco, first-person singular preterite pesqué, past participle pescado)^[1]

Etymology

It continues inherited from Latin piscor (“to fish”), or rather the active form *piscare of this deponent verb.^{[2][3][1][4][5]} The same verb is Portuguese pescar, Galician pescar, Catalan pescar, Occitan pescar, French pêcher and Italian pescare.^[1][6]

The Latin verb is formed from piscis (“fish”), the source of Spanish pez.^[7][1][2] The noun goes back to Proto-Italic *piskis and Proto-Indo-European *pisk- (“fish”), which also gave Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐍃𐌺𐍃 (fisks) and the English word fish.^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DEMel's first records are of 1148, in the form peschen “they may fish”, in the Cartulario de Covarrubias and in a document of León and Castile.^[8][2] The Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250) lists pescando among the uses of the land, beside hunting with hawks or dogs and cutting timber, and the Fuero de Alcalá (c. 1235) fines whoever goes in a pescar by day or by night.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's Lapidario uses the verb in its plain sense, of fish-hooks made from a stone.^[10] Covarrubias in 1611 defines it as catching fish in rivers or the sea with nets, hooks or weirs.^[11] Autoridades adds the extended senses “to catch, grab anything”, “to catch someone out in words or deeds” and, figuratively, “to get what one wanted”.^[12] Terreros records the fishing of coral and pearls and the sense “to steal”.^[13] The first records from the Americas are of pearl fishing in Venezuela, from 1604.^[14]

The DLE now adds “to catch an illness” and “to grasp the meaning of something quickly”.^[3] In parts of Central America, Puerto Rico and Uruguay it means “to win someone's favours”.^[15]

Timeline

• 1148 – first record, peschen, in a charter.^[8][2]
• 1218–c. 1250 – pescando in the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes.^[9]
• 1220–1250 – first record of pescado.^[2]
• c. 1250 – first record of pescador.^[2]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario speaks of hooks pora pescar.^[10]
• c. 1400 – first record of the noun pesca.^[2]
• 1604 – first record from the Americas, of pearl fishing in Venezuela.^[14]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines the verb.^[11]
• 1847 – first record of pesquis, probably from phrases like no saber uno lo que se pesca.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To fish (for), to take or try to take fish and other animals out of the water: Pescamos truchas en el río.^[3][1]
2. (transitive) To fish something up from the bottom of the sea or a river.^[3]
3. (transitive, colloquial) To catch an illness: Pescó un resfriado en la playa.^[3][1]
4. (transitive, colloquial) To catch or grab anything.^[3][12]
5. (transitive, colloquial) To catch someone out, unprepared or in the act.^[3][12]
6. (transitive, colloquial) To get by cunning what one was after.^[3]
7. (transitive, colloquial) To grasp the meaning of something quickly.^[3]
8. (transitive, Central America, Puerto Rico) To win someone's favours.^[15]

Word family

• pesca
• repescar
• pesquero
• pesquería

Related words

• pescadería
• pescadero
• pescado
• pescador
• pez
• peje
• Latin piscor

Usage notes

Set phrases include caña de pescar “fishing rod”, pescar en río revuelto and no saber uno lo que se pesca.^[3][16][2]

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 Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. pez
3. ^ 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. pescar
4. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. pescar
5. ^ 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. pescar
6. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 2559
7. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. pescar
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. pescar
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. pescar
11. ^ 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. 1210
12. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 242
13. ^ 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, 114
14. ^ 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. pescar
15. ^ 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. pescar
16. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. pescar