preparar

Forms

preparar (first-person singular present preparo, first-person singular preterite preparé, past participle preparado)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin praeparō (“to make ready beforehand”), formed from prae- (“before”) and parō (“to prepare”).^[2][3][1][4] It is a learned word; the inherited outcome of the simple verb is parar, which first meant “to arrange, set out” and kept the Latin sense “to prepare” in some uses.^[2]

The same Latin verb was borrowed as Portuguese preparar, Catalan preparar, French préparer and Italian preparare.^[5][1] The French verb is recorded from 1314, first in medicine.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the verb to Covarrubias (1611) and the second part of the Quijote.^[2] The CDH has much earlier texts: the Libro del cavallero Cifar (1300–1305, in a copy of the late 15th century) has ellos se preparan a los defender “they get ready to defend them”, and Alfonso de Valladolid (1320) uses it in a biblical verse, que por sienpre preparare la tu simjente “that I will establish thy seed for ever”.^[7] Earlier hits are in Latin charters (preparare, 1240) or in Aragonese documents.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Covarrubias (1611) explains it as the same as aparejar or prevenir, and Autoridades gives three senses: to make something ready for a purpose, to dispose a person for a coming action, and, among physicians and apothecaries, to temper the strength of a medicine.^[8][9] The pronominal prepararse “to get ready” entered the Academy's dictionary in 1843.^[10] The 1899 edition added the chemical and pharmaceutical sense “to make a product”, and the modern dictionary “to study for” and “to coach for an examination”.^[11][3]

In the Dominican Republic preparar and prepararse are used of the sterilization of a woman.^[12]

Timeline

• 1300–1305 – Libro del cavallero Cifar, in a late 15th-century copy: se preparan.^[7]
• 1320 – Alfonso de Valladolid, Libro de las tres creencias.^[7]
• 1381 – first year in the Old Spanish Textual Archive.^[13]
• 1490 – first record of the derivative preparativo.^[5][2]
• 1588 – first record in the Americas, in the New Kingdom of Granada.^[14]
• 1591 – Percyvall glosses it “to prepare”.^[15]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it; the DCECH's first record.^[8][2]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades records the pharmaceutical sense.^[9]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology “Del lat. praeparare”.^[16]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To prepare, make ready or arrange something for a purpose: Preparó la sala para la reunión.^[3][1]
2. (transitive) To prepare someone for a future action or news.^[3][17]
3. (transitive) To make a product by the necessary operations, such as a dish, a drink or a medicine: preparar la cena.^[3]
4. (transitive, also pronominal) To study (estudiar) for an examination: Está preparando las oposiciones.^[3][17]
5. (transitive) To coach someone before an examination.^[3]
6. (medicine) To temper the strength of the active principle of a medicine.^[3]
7. (pronominal) To get ready to do something: Prepárate, que salimos en cinco minutos.^[3][1]
8. (Dominican Republic) To sterilize a woman surgically;^[12] prepararse, to be sterilized.^[12]

Word family

• preparación
• preparado
• preparativo
• preparatorio
• preparador

Related words

• parar
• reparar
• Latin praeparō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 393
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. preparar
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. praeparō
5. ^ a b Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 589
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. préparer
7. ^ 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. preparar
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 360
10. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 584
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 807
12. ^ a b c Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. preparar
13. ^ Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org, p. s.v. preparar
14. ^ 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. preparar
15. ^ Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 193
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 860
17. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. preparar