presa

Forms

presa f (plural presas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin prēnsa (“seized, taken”), the feminine past participle of prehendō (“to grasp, seize”), with the contracted form prendō.^[2][1][3] In Spanish it began as the feminine of preso, one of the participles of prender, and the sense “dam” rests on the idea of a wall that “catches” the water.^[4][5]

The senses “booty” and “prey” only look like the participle, according to Corominas.^[3] In them the word is a term of mercantile law, borrowed from Catalan presa, which in Catalan is the regular outcome of Latin praeda (“booty, plunder”).^[3][6] Gómez de Silva and Segura Munguía follow him for the “prey” sense.^[4][7] The Spanish Wiktionary derives the whole word from the Latin noun instead.^[8] That noun had its own inherited outcome, prea (“booty”), used in the Cid and by Juan Ruiz, beside the verb prear (“to plunder”); Portuguese prea is the same word.^[3][9] Meyer-Lübke puts the open vowel of the French, Occitan and Spanish descendants of the Latin noun down to the influence of the participle.^[10]

The Latin verb is formed with prae- on a verb that has no simple form; the OLD compares Ancient Greek χανδάνω (khandánō, “to hold, contain”).^[11] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *prai-χend- (“to seize”) and a Proto-Indo-European root meaning “to grab”, and explains the noun “booty” as a compound of the same root.^[12] Wiktionary traces both to Proto-Indo-European *gʰed-.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a Latin charter of Eslonza of 943, ipsa presa de vestros molinos “the dam of your mills”: the weir that diverts a river to drive a mill.^[3][6] The word is frequent in this sense in the Leonese charters, and the Fuero de Zorita (1218–c. 1250) has a law Del que presa nueua fiziere “on him who builds a new dam”.^[3][13]

Semantic evolution

Old Spanish used the noun for a mill dam, for something seized in war or by robbery, for a portion of food and in presa de puño “a handful”.^[14] Corominas also records the senses “claw, hand” in the Libro de Alexandre and “fang” in Quevedo.^[3] Nebrija gave it the Latin equivalents praeda and rapina, and, for a fastening, retinaculum.^[15][3] Covarrubias (1611) put the mill weir first and added military booty and presa de caldo, the juice pressed out of a fowl.^[16] The Academy's dictionaries kept the action of seizing, booty taken from the enemy and the irrigation channel, and Salvá added a captured enemy ship.^[17][18]

In the 19th century Baralt condemned presa in the sense “victim” (presa de la calumnia) as a Gallicism; today the DLE has this sense, presa del terror, as well as the hunted animal.^[19][2] In the Americas it means a piece of meat or chicken in several countries, and in Puerto Rico the losing gamecock.^[20][21][22]

Timeline

• 943 – a charter of Eslonza uses presa for a mill dam.^[3][6]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has presa once, perhaps for a fastening or loop.^[23][3]
• 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes legislates on building a new dam.^[13]
• 1270–1284 – the Estoria de España of Alfonso X uses presas for booty taken by raiders.^[14]
• 1330–1343 – Juan Ruiz uses it for something seized, the sense Corominas attributes to Catalan.^[24][3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives praeda and rapina as its Latin equivalents.^[15]
• 1526 – the first record from the Americas, at Santa Marta, for captives brought back from a raid.^[25]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it first as the weir of a mill.^[16]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary derives it from the Latin participle prensa.^[26]

Meanings

Noun

1. The action of seizing or taking something, mostly in hacer presa “to seize, take hold”.^[2][27]
2. Something seized or stolen; booty, a prize taken at sea.^[2][1]
3. prey: an animal that is or can be hunted or fished: El halcón cayó sobre su presa.^[2][1]
4. An irrigation channel or acequia.^[2]
5. A dam or weir: a thick wall built across a river or canal to hold back the water and divert or regulate it.^[2][1]
6. A reservoir, the water held back by such a wall (represa).^[2][1]
7. A millrace: the channel that brings water to the wheels of a mill or other hydraulic machine.^[2]
8. A slice, piece or small portion of something edible.^[2][1]
9. Each of the large pointed fangs of some animals.^[2]
10. (wrestling) A hold that immobilises the opponent.^[2]
11. A person, animal or thing that suffers something: La casa fue presa de las llamas.^[2]
12. A fan-shaped cut of pork above the shoulder.^[2]
13. (falconry) A bird caught by a falcon or other bird of prey; the talon of such a bird.^[2]
14. (Latin America) A piece of meat or chicken.^[20][1]
15. (Puerto Rico) Among cockfighters, the losing cock.^[21][22]

Word family

• apresar
• presilla
• perro de presa

Related words

• prender
• preso
• represa
• Latin praeda
• Catalan presa

Usage notes

Buena presa and mala presa are terms of maritime law for a capture made according to, or against, the international rules of navigation.^[2] Presa is also the feminine of the adjective and noun preso “imprisoned; prisoner”, which has its own entry.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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. presa
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 638
4. ^ a b c Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. presa
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. prehensus
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. prender
7. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 585
8. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. praeda
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6714
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. prehendo
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ 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. presa
14. ^ 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. presa
15. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 400
16. ^ 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
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 585
18. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 876
19. ^ Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado, p. 552
20. ^ a b Santamaría, Francisco J. (1959), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Porrúa, p. 888
21. ^ a b Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. presa 1
22. ^ a b Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 682
23. ^ Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. s.v. presa
24. ^ 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. presa
25. ^ 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. presa
26. ^ 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
27. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. presa