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prender

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word prender

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
950–1000 Glosas Silenses More words from the 10th century
Inherited from
Latin prendo via Old Spanish
Ultimate origin
Latin prehendō

Pronunciation

  • /pɾenˈdeɾ/, [pɾẽn̪ˈd̪eɾ][1]

Forms

prender (first-person singular present prendo, first-person singular preterite prendí, past participle prendido)[1] Old Spanish had a strong preterite: first person pris or prise, third person preso or priso, with the subjunctive presiese; the old participle priso lasted into the 14th century beside preso.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish prender, inherited from Latin prēndō (“to seize”), the contracted form of prehendō (“to grasp, seize”).[2][3][4][1][5] The same verb is Portuguese prender, Catalan pendre, French prendre, Italian prendere and Romanian prinde.[6][7] Old Aragonese had prener and the speech of Ribagorza penre.[7]

The Latin verb is formed with prae- (“before”) and a verb *hendere (“to seize”) known only in compounds.[8] De Vaan traces it to Proto-Italic and a nasal present of the root that also gave Ancient Greek χανδάνω (khandánō, “to hold, contain”).[5] Wiktionary gives the root as Proto-Indo-European *gʰed-, and names English get as a cognate.[1] From the same Latin verb come praeda (“booty”) and the compounds that gave aprender, comprender and reprender.[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DCECH places the first record in the Glosas Silenses, and Romance forms of the verb appear in charters of the 11th century: présor “took” in Aragonese documents of 1030 and 1095, pryso “taken” in 1062 and preso at Sahagún in 1084.[2] In the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) it means “take, seize”, “capture” and “receive”: grandes averes priso e mucho sobejanos “he received great and plentiful riches”.[9][10]

Semantic evolution

In the oldest texts and the 14th century prender had the wide sense later taken by tomar, as in prender tuerto “suffer a wrong” and prender emienda “receive amends”.[2] That use was already receding in the 14th century: one manuscript of Berceo regularly replaces prender with tomar.[2] After that the verb kept mainly the senses “arrest”, “fasten an ornament to a garment” and, intransitive, “take root”, with phrases such as prender fuego.[2] Covarrubias in 1611 says it meant chiefly to take someone to prison.[11]

In prender fuego the fire was at first the subject (la pólvora no prendía, 1551), but Spaniards also made it the object.[2] In America the verb went further and came to mean “light; switch on”, replacing encender in parts of the continent.[2][12][1] Latin American Spanish has many further colloquial senses, such as “get excited”, “liven up” of a party and “take” of a vaccine.[13]

Timeline

  • 950–1000 – the Glosas Silenses, the first record.[2][3]
  • 1030 – the Romance form présor “took” in an Aragonese charter.[2]
  • c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid (in a 14th-century copy) uses priso and prender.[9][10]
  • 1208 – the Cortes de León, the first hit known from a contemporary text.[9]
  • 1254 – Alfonso X's prose uses it for arresting a person.[14]
  • 1495 – the noun prendimiento is first recorded.[3]
  • 1526 – first record in the Americas, in Cuba: prendedle el cuerpo “arrest him”.[15]
  • 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as taking someone to jail and as a plant taking root.[11]
  • 1817 – the Academy lists the intransitive senses “take root” and “catch, spread” of fire.[16]
  • 1884 – the Academy derives it from Latin prehendere.[17]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (transitive) To grasp, seize or hold something.[4][1]
  2. (transitive) To fasten one thing to another with a pin or a few stitches: Le prendió una medalla en la solapa.[4][18]
  3. (transitive) To arrest a person, especially to put them in prison.[4][1]
  4. (transitive) Of a thing: to catch on or stick to another.[4]
  5. (transitive) Of a male animal: to cover or impregnate.[4]
  6. (transitive) To light or set fire to something.[4][1] (Latin America) To switch on a light or appliance.[4][1][12]
  7. (transitive, also reflexive) To adorn or dress up a woman.[4]
  8. (transitive, obsolete) To take, receive.[4]
  9. (intransitive) Of a plant: to take root.[4]
  10. (intransitive) Of fire or something else: to catch and begin to act or spread.[4]
  11. (intransitive) Of a female animal: to become pregnant.[4]

Word family

  • prendedero
  • prendedura
  • prendido
  • prendimiento
  • preso
  • desprender

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 638
  3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. prender
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. prender
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  7. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. prehendere
  8. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. prender
  9. ^ 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. prender
  10. ^ a b Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 400
  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. 1227
  12. ^ a b Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 681
  13. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. prender
  14. ^ 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. prender
  15. ^ 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. prender
  16. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 698
  17. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 859
  18. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. prender

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Prender.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/prender. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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