presentar

Forms

presentar (first-person singular present presento, first-person singular preterite presenté, past participle presentado)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin praesentō (“to show, exhibit, present”), one of the learned words that Corominas places in the family of ser.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin verb is formed on praesēns (“present”),^[5][1] the participle of praesum (“to be in front, be present”), a compound of sum (“to be”).^[2][4] Gómez de Silva notes that several Vulgar Latin verbs were formed on its model, such as the ancestors of ahuyentar, calentar, espantar and quebrantar.^[6]

The same Latin verb gave Portuguese apresentar (beside rare presentar), Catalan presentar, French présenter and Italian presentare.^{[7][8][9][10]} French borrowed it very early, about 881.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy).^[11][2] There the Cid's men hold out their lances against the enemy, „Antes que ellos lleguen al llano presentémosles las lanças” “before they reach the plain, let us present our lances to them”,^[11] and in another line the people give Minaya a great gift of provisions.^[12] Corominas dates the sense “offer as a gift” to about 1140 and “put in front, show” to about 1240.^[2][13]

Semantic evolution

In the prose of Alfonso X the verb already means to show something, to give a present, to propose someone for an ecclesiastical dignity or office, and to introduce one person to another.^[14] The ecclesiastical sense matches Medieval Latin, where the verb was used of presenting a newly appointed cleric for investiture or ordination and of bringing someone before a ruler or a court.^[15]

Autoridades gives the senses “show”, “give freely, as a gift” and “propose for a church dignity”, with a quotation from the law collections on documents presented in court.^[16] Terreros adds the fencing and military phrases presentar la espada and presentar las armas.^[10] In 1843 the Academy added “introduce someone into another's house and friendship”, and the reflexive senses “appear in court” and “offer oneself”; in 1869 it added “report for the first time to a superior”.^[17][18] Modern dictionaries add “show certain features” (of a patient, a problem) and “host a show or programme”.^[3][19]

In the Americas the verb is recorded from 1526 in Santo Domingo, of presenting witnesses in a legal inquiry.^[20] In Dominican Spanish presentar also means to sit an examination.^[21]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid (14th-century copy) uses presentar of holding out lances and of giving a gift.^[11][2]
• c. 1240 – the sense “put in front, show”, as Corominas dates it.^[2]
• 1255 – the earliest dated text with the verb in the HSMS archive.^[22]
• 1256–1300 – the Alfonsine legal prose uses it for proposing a candidate for ordination.^[14]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin offero and dono as its equivalents.^[23][4]
• 1526 – first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[20]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades defines the senses “show”, “give” and “propose for a dignity”.^[16]
• 1843 – the Academy adds “introduce” and the reflexive senses.^[17]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology from Latin.^[24]

Meanings

Verb

1. To present, to show: to put something before someone so that it can be seen or examined: Mañana presentaremos el informe al director.^[3][1][19]
2. To give something freely, as a present.^[3]
3. To offer: presentar excusas, presentar sus respetos.^[3]
4. To have or show certain features: El paciente presenta fiebre alta.^[3][1]
5. To put someone forward for a post or office.^[3]
6. To introduce one person to another: Te presento a mi primo.^[3][1]
7. To make known to the public; to host a show or a radio or television programme.^[3][19]
8. (law) To file a lawsuit, lodge an appeal or complaint;^[1] (government) to table a motion.^[1]
9. (reflexive) To offer oneself; to appear at a place or before an authority; to turn up unexpectedly: Se presentó en casa a medianoche.^[3]
10. (Dominican Republic) To sit an examination.^[21]

Word family

• presentación
• presentador
• presentable
• impresentable
• presentado

Related words

• presente
• presencia
• representar
• ser
• Latin praesentō

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 Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ser
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. presentar
4. ^ 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. presentar
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. praesentō
6. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. presentar
7. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. presentar
8. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. presentar
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. présenter
10. ^ a b 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, 204
11. ^ 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. presentar
12. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando, p. 342
13. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 602
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. presentar
15. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. praesentare
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 363
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 585
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 629
19. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. presentar
20. ^ 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. presentar
21. ^ a b 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. presentar
22. ^ 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. presentar
23. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 400
24. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 861