profesar

Forms

profesar (first-person singular present profeso, first-person singular preterite profesé, past participle profesado)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish profeso + -ar, as the DLE and Wiktionary explain it.^[2][1] The adjective, used of monks and nuns who have taken their vows, is found in Spanish texts from 1347, two centuries before the verb.^[3]

The DCECH and the BDELC treat the verb instead as a learned word made, in the same way as confesar, from Latin profiteor (“to declare openly, make profession”), whose past participle is professus.^[4][5] The Latin verb is formed from prō- (“forth, in public”) and fateor (“to acknowledge, admit”).^[6][7][8] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *fat-ē- for this verb, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰh₂-to- (“spoken”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record in Boyd-Bowman's corpus is a document from Puebla, Mexico, of 1555, about a nun que en este convento profesó “who took her vows in this convent”.^[9] The DCECH's first record is in Aldana (died 1578), then in Ribadeneira (1595) and Fuenmayor, and the BDELC dates the sense “to declare or teach in public” about 1570.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Covarrubias in 1611 gives two senses: in religious orders, to make one's profession after the novitiate, promising publicly to stay in the order until death; and to practise an art or science.^[10] Autoridades defines it as to exercise or teach a faculty, art or doctrine in public, and to bind oneself for life in a religious order with the three vows of poverty, obedience and chastity.^[11] By 1583 a text from Mexico City speaks of those who professan la milicia “follow the military profession”.^[9]

The Academy added in 1817 the sense of keeping up a feeling or practice by choice, as in profesar amistad “to profess friendship”, in 1843 “to teach”, and in 1884 “to believe, confess” a principle or doctrine.^[12][13][14] Baralt in 1855 condemned profesar opiniones “to hold opinions” as a translation from French.^[15] Today the DLE puts first the senses “to feel or show a feeling towards someone” and “to follow a doctrine”, and marks “to practise a profession” and “to teach” as learned.^[2][16]

Timeline

• 1555 – a document from Puebla, Mexico, uses profesó of a nun.^[9]
• c. 1570 – the BDELC's date for the sense “to declare or teach in public”.^[5]
• before 1578 – Aldana uses the verb.^[4]
• 1595 – Ribadeneira.^[4]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines the religious and the professional senses.^[10]
• 1817 – the Academy adds profesar amistad.^[12]
• 1855 – Baralt rejects profesar opiniones as a Gallicism.^[15]
• 1884 – the Academy adds “to believe, confess” and derives the verb from profeso.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To have or show a feeling or attitude towards someone or something: Todos le profesaban un gran respeto.^[2][16]
2. (transitive) To profess, hold or follow an idea, doctrine or religion.^[2][16][1]
3. (transitive, formal) To practise a profesión or trade.^[2][16]
4. (transitive, formal) To teach a science or art, especially at a university.^[2][16]
5. (intransitive) To enter a religious order.^[2][16]
6. (intransitive) Of a novice: to take the vows of a religious order.^[2]

Related words

• profeso
• profesión
• profesor
• confesar

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. profesar
3. ^ Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. profesar
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 174
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. profesar
6. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México
7. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c 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. profesar
10. ^ 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. 1231
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 395
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 706
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 591
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 869
15. ^ a b Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado, p. 559
16. ^ a b c d e f Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. profesar