proteger

Forms

proteger (first-person singular present protejo, first-person singular preterite protegí, past participle protegido)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin prōtegō (“to cover in front; to protect”).^[2][3][1] The Latin verb is formed from prō- (“in front”) and tegō (“to cover”).^[4][1][5] Corominas treats it under techo, from tēctum (“roof”), a derivative of the same verb, “to cover, hide, protect”; teja is from tēgula, of the same root.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas found the verb first in Oudin's dictionary, and notes that in 1570 Cristóbal de las Casas still translated Italian proteggere only by amparar.^[2] The CDH has earlier examples: Enrique de Villena's glosses on the Aeneid (1427–1428, in a copy of 1442) say of men protected by worldly cunning that they son protegidos “are protected”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The Autoridades defined it as “shelter, favour and defend someone, keeping him under one's protection”, and said it comes from Latin protegere.^[7] Domínguez in 1846 added “shelter, cover” and the military sense “defend against an enemy attack”.^[8] The Academy's 1884 edition gave the etymology and extended the object to things.^[9] In the 2001 edition “support, defend” came first, and today the DLE puts first the physical sense “shield from harm”.^[10][3] The derivatives protección and protector are older in the record than the verb: protector is already in Alfonso de Palencia.^[2]

Timeline

• 1427–1428 – Villena's glosses on the Aeneid (in a copy of 1442) have son protegidos.^[6]
• 1488 – a CDH text has the formula Dios le proteja.^[6]
• 1570 – Cristóbal de las Casas renders Italian proteggere only by amparar.^[2]
• 1726–1739 – the Autoridades defines it.^[7]
• 1746 – the first record from the Americas, in Mexico, spelt protexieron.^[11]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To shield a person, animal or thing from harm or danger by covering or surrounding it; also reflexive: Se protegió del viento con una manta.^[3][1]
2. To protect, shelter, favour or defend someone or something.^[3][1]

Word family

• protegido

Related words

• protección
• protector
• protectorado
• techo
• Latin prōtegō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 448
3. ^ a b c d 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. proteger
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. proteger
6. ^ 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. proteger
7. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 412
8. ^ Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 2, 1432
9. ^ 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. 873
10. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. proteger
11. ^ 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. proteger