por

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin por, an alteration of classical prō (“for, on behalf of”).^[2][3][1] The DLE derives it from prō influenced by per (“through”), as Moliner does, and García de Diego and DICCA-XV see a crossing of the two prepositions.^[4][5][6][7] The Academy's dictionary of 1884 gave Latin per alone;^[8][9] Alemany in 1917 gave the classical form.^[8][9]

Corominas considers prō certain.^[2] The uses of por match those of the Latin preposition, and Pio Rajna's derivation from propter is impossible.^[2] The form pro is still found in the Glosas Silenses, the Fuero de Avilés and once in Berceo, and the Strasbourg Oaths have pro: these may be Latinisms, but Old Spanish and Old French often moved a pretonic /r/ in this way.^[2] L. H. Gray and others saw in por a very old variant of prō, as in the Latin prefix of porrigō and portendō;^[2] Corominas thinks it more likely that the popular transposition prō > por began early but spread to careful speech only centuries later.^[2] The REW explains it most simply by association with per.^[10] De Vaan derives the Latin prefix por- “forth” from *pr-.^[11]

The form por belongs to Castilian, Portuguese and Old French, where it became French pour.^[2] Old Portuguese and Asturian distinguished por “for” from per “by, through”, and an Old Leonese document does the same, but the distinction was soon lost; modern Portuguese keeps per only in pelo and pela.^[2] Castilian had par from per in oaths.^[2][12] French favoured the sense “for, in order to”, which Spanish and Portuguese expressed with pora, from por and a, later para.^[2][12]

prō goes back to Proto-Italic *prō and Proto-Indo-European *pro “in front of, before”, the source also of Ancient Greek πρό (pró).^[13][1] Spanish later borrowed the Latin word itself as pro.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas finds the first record in a charter of 938 from Oelschläger's list, and then in the Glosas Emilianenses and Silenses and the Cid.^[2][3] In the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy) it marks a route: „Mio Cid Ruy Díaz por Burgos entró” “My Cid Ruy Díaz rode in through Burgos”.^[14] The Auto de los Reyes Magos (c. 1180) has „Nacido es Dios, por uer, de fembra” “God is born, in truth, of a woman”.^[14]

Semantic evolution

The Cid always has pora for “for, in order to”; para appears in the Setenario about 1250 and became usual in the later parts of the Primera Crónica General.^[12][15] Alfonso X's Lapidario uses por for the agent of a passive, for passing through a place, with nouns of time and in the sense “as”.^[16]

Nebrija's dictionary of about 1495 distinguishes por of cause (Latin ob, propter), of oaths, of the agent and of the route (Latin per).^[7] Covarrubias in 1611 called it a causal or final preposition from Latin pro.^[17] The phrase por qué gave the noun porqué “reason” in the 15th century and “amount, share” in 1605.^[3] Alemany in 1917 recorded its use in multiplication, dos por tres, seis.^[9]

Baralt in 1855 condemned por after nouns of feeling (amor por mí) as a Gallicism, a use Moliner still notes as criticised.^[18][5]

Timeline

• 938 – first record, in a charter.^[2][3]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses por, and always pora for “for”.^[14][12]
• c. 1250 – para appears in the Setenario.^[12]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for the agent of a passive.^[16]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija lists its uses with their Latin equivalents.^[7]
• 1513 – the first record from the Americas, in Puerto Rico.^[19]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from Latin pro.^[17]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary derives it from Latin per.^[8]

Meanings

Preposition

1. by: marks the agent of a passive: El puente fue construido por los romanos.^[4][1]
2. through, via, along: Pasamos por Burgos.^[4][1]
3. Around, near (of a place): Vive por el centro.^[4]
4. By (a part): La cogió por la mano.^[4]
5. Around, about (of a time): Vendrán por Navidad.^[4][1]
6. As, in the capacity of: Lo eligieron por jefe.^[4]
7. because of, for: Lo despidieron por llegar tarde.^[4][1]
8. By (a means or manner): Me avisó por correo. por la fuerza.^[4][1]
9. for (a price or exchange): Lo vendí por diez euros.^[4][1]
10. For, on behalf of: Luchó por su país.^[4][1]
11. Instead of, in place of.^[4]
12. For, as (in someone's opinion): La tienen por sabia.^[4]
13. per: diez euros por persona.^[4][1]
14. (mathematics) times: Tres por dos son seis.^[1][9]
15. With estar and an infinitive, still to be done; about to: La casa está por limpiar.^[1]

Word family

• porque
• porqué
• porvenir

Related words

• para
• pro
• French pour

Usage notes

The choice between por and para is one of the main difficulties of Spanish: para continues the old compound pora.^[12] Porque “because” is written as one word, por qué “why” as two, and el porqué is the noun “the reason”.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 611
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. por
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. por
5. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. por
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 4929
7. ^ a b c 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. por
8. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 849
9. ^ a b c d Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1353
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. por
12. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 388
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. pro
14. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. por
15. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. para
16. ^ 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. por
17. ^ 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. 1223
18. ^ Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado, p. 536
19. ^ 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. po