probar

Forms

probar (first-person singular present pruebo, first-person singular preterite probé, past participle probado)^[1] The medieval spelling was provar (Cid, Berceo, the Poema de Alfonso XI), still in Palencia, Nebrija and the classical authors.^[2] In popular and dialect speech the present prueba is reduced to preba, whence an infinitive prebar in places (New Mexico, Puerto Rico, Judeo-Spanish, Salamanca, Asturias).^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish provar, inherited from Latin probō (“to test; to approve; to prove”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin verb is derived from probus (“good, excellent”).^[5][6] Autoridades noted that the stressed vowel becomes a diphthong in some forms of the present, as in prueba.^[7]

The same word is Portuguese provar, Galician probar, Catalan provar, Occitan provar, French prouver and Italian provare.^[8][1][9] Corominas notes that it is common to all the western Romance languages.^[2]

The Latin adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *pro-f(w)-o- (“favourable”), from Proto-Indo-European *pro-bʰh₂u-o-.^[6] Wiktionary analyses it as *pro- (“forward”) and *bʰuH- (“to be”), “being in front”.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) the Cid's men „el amor de mio Cid ya lo ivan provando” “were already experiencing the Cid's favour”.^[10][2] The Auto de los Reyes Magos (c. 1180) has the sense “to find out”: „¿Cúmo podremos provar si es homne mortal…?” “how can we test whether he is a mortal man?”^[10]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages the intransitive sense “to turn out (to be)” was common: Juan Ruiz writes „el fijo muchas vezes como el padre prueva” “the son often turns out like his father”;^[2] Old French knew it too, and English keeps it.^[2] A remnant is probar bien or mal “to suit or not suit”, said especially of a climate, very common from the 17th to the 19th century and still alive, though now giving way to sentar.^[2] A letter from Santo Domingo of 1515 already says of the Caribs that they are the people the land suits best.^[11]

Alfonso X's prose has testing the qualities of something, proving a fact, tasting a small portion of a food, and approving.^[12] Covarrubias in 1611 gave “to attempt”, “sometimes to taste”, and in law “to prove with witnesses and documents”.^[13] With an infinitive, “to try to”, the verb took de in the Middle Ages (Conde Lucanor) and a from the Golden Age on (provó a subir in the Quijote); the Academy recorded probó a levantarse in 1817.^[2] Derivatives include prueba (1219) and probanza (1490).^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid writes provando.^[10][2]
• c. 1180 – the Auto de los Reyes Magos has prouar “to find out”.^[10]
• 1219 – first record of the noun prueba.^[3]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for testing stones and for tasting.^[12]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin probo and comprobo.^[14]
• 1515 – the first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo, of a land that suits people.^[11]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records the senses “to attempt” and “to taste”.^[13]
• 1817 – the Academy records probar a with an infinitive.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To test, examine the qualities of someone or something.^[4][1]
2. (also reflexive) To check whether something fits; to try on clothes: Me probé la chaqueta en la tienda.^[4][1]
3. To prove, demonstrate a fact with reasons, documents or witnesses.^[4][1]
4. To taste a small amount of a food or drink.^[4][1]
5. (chiefly in the negative) To eat or drink: No ha probado bocado en todo el día.^[4][1]
6. (obsolete) To approve.^[4]
7. (intransitive, with a + infinitive) To try to do something.^[4][15]
8. (intransitive) Of a thing: to suit, agree with someone.^[4][2]

Word family

• prueba
• probanza
• probatorio
• probeta
• probador

Related words

• aprobar
• comprobar
• probable
• probado
• probadura
• probo
• Latin probō

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 Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 657
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. probar
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. probar
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. probō
6. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 388
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 5224
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
11. ^ 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. aprebar
12. ^ 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. probar
13. ^ 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. 1, 1233
14. ^ 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. probar
15. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. probar