prevenir

Forms

prevenir (first-person singular present prevengo, first-person singular preterite previne, past participle prevenido)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin praeveniō (“to come before, anticipate”), formed from prae- (“before”) and veniō (“to come”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]}

In Latin the verb meant “to arrive first” and then “to anticipate, forestall”.^[5][6] The same Latin verb was borrowed as French prévenir (1467), Portuguese prevenir (14th century), Catalan prevenir and Italian prevenire.^[7][8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first text in the CDH is a translation of the Historia de Jerusalem abreviada (after 1350), in a theological phrase, previniendo la divina graçia “with divine grace going before”.^[10] The translations of Juan Fernández de Heredia (1376–1396) use it for an event that came before another.^[10] The BDELC dates the first record to 1444;^[11] Nebrija glosses it “to anticipate”.^[3][2][11]

Semantic evolution

The classical writers of the 16th and 17th centuries used it for “to prepare” as well as “to warn, advise”, a sense the DCECH calls dated in Spain but popular in Argentina, where it even means “to announce”.^[2] Covarrubias gave only “to anticipate” and the reflexive prevenirse “to get ready”.^[12] The Diccionario de Autoridades lists “to prepare in advance”, “to foresee a harm” and “to anticipate another in a judgement or action”.^[13] The Academy added “to hinder, prevent”, “to warn” and “to prejudice someone's mind” in 1817, and “to forestall, avoid” in 1843.^[14][15] The sense “to take precautions against”, as in the proverb más vale prevenir que curar “prevention is better than cure”, is today the main one.^[16][17][1]

Timeline

• after 1350 – first record in the CDH, previniendo la divina graçia.^[10]
• 1376–1396 – the translations of Juan Fernández de Heredia.^[10]
• 1444 – first record in the BDELC.^[3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija: prevenir, anticiparse, Latin praevenio.^[11][2]
• 1569 – first record from the Americas, in Chile.^[18]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records prevenirse “to get ready”.^[12]
• 1817 – the Academy adds the senses “to hinder” and “to warn”.^[14]
• 1869 – the Academy records prevenírsele a uno algo “to occur to someone”.^[19]

Meanings

Verb

1. To prepare in advance what is needed for a purpose: Prevenimos agua y comida para la travesía.^[4][16]
2. To foresee a harm or damage.^[4]
3. To prevent, avert or forestall: Estas medidas ayudan a prevenir los incendios forestales.^[4][1]
4. To warn or inform someone of something: Te previne de que el puente estaba cortado.^[4][1][16]
5. To prejudice someone, inclining them for or against a person or thing.^[4][16]
6. To anticipate a difficulty or objection.^[4]
7. (reflexive: prevenirse) To get ready in advance for something.^[4]

Word family

• prevenible
• prevención
• prevenido
• desprevenido
• preventivo

Related words

• venir
• provenir
• Latin praeveniō

Usage notes

The preterite is irregular like that of venir: previne, previnimos;^[20][21] Batres Jáuregui and Cuervo criticised prevenimos for the past, which is a present form.^[20][21] In Mexico Henríquez Ureña recorded desaprevenido with an added prefix.^[22] Prevenírsele a alguien algo means “to occur to someone”.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 770
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. venir
4. ^ 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. prevenir
5. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. praeueniō
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. praevenio
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. prévenir
8. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 2708
9. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. prevenir
10. ^ 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. prevenir
11. ^ 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. prevenir
12. ^ 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. 1229
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 374
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 702
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 587
16. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. prevenir
17. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. prevenir
18. ^ 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. prevenir
19. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 631
20. ^ a b Batres Jáuregui, Antonio (1892), Vicios del lenguaje y provincialismos de Guatemala, Guatemala: Encuadernación y Tipografía Nacional, p. 469
21. ^ a b Cuervo, Rufino José (1914), Apuntaciones críticas sobre el lenguaje bogotano, 6th ed., París: A. & R. Roger y F. Chernoviz, p. s.v. prevenir
22. ^ Henríquez Ureña, Pedro (2015), Obras completas, vol. 12: 1936–1940 III, ed. Miguel D. Mena, Santo Domingo: Ministerio de Cultura, p. 67