provocar

Forms

provocar (first-person singular present provoco, first-person singular preterite provoqué, past participle provocado)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin prōvocō (“to call forth; to challenge”), a learned word, which Corominas glosses as calling someone to come out, and so to excite or provoke.^[2][3][4][1] Corominas and the BDELC date it to about 1440, in Alfonso de la Torre and Juan de Mena, but the CDH has it in the Crónica de Sahagún of about 1255.^[2][3][5] The Latin verb is made of prō- (“forth, forward”) and vocō (“to call”), a verb formed from vōx (“voice”), which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *wokʷ-.^[6][1][7][8] Corominas treats it in the family of voz, beside invocar, evocar and revocar.^[2][3] The English cognate is provoke.^[1]

The REW lists Catalan perbocar (“to vomit”) and the Spanish senses “to irritate” and “to make someone vomit” under the Latin word.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the CDH's earliest hit, the Crónica de Sahagún (c. 1255), the devil „prouoco e ençito los coraçones” “provoked and incited the hearts” of two brothers.^[5] In the Castigos of 1293 a sinner knows he has God „yrado & prouocado” “angered and provoked”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija gave provocar a ira “to provoke to anger” with Latin lacesso and irrito.^[8] The Diccionario de Autoridades recorded “to incite”, “to irritate”, “to vomit”, and “to facilitate, help”, used of drinks in Laguna's Dioscorides.^[10] Terreros added “to challenge to combat” and provocar a beber “to challenge to a drinking match”.^[11]

The DLE now puts “to produce, cause” first.^[4] The DTME notes that some readers object to the verb in this sense.^[12] In Colombia, El Salvador and Venezuela it means “to appeal to, to make someone fancy something”, and the DAMER records the same use in other countries.^[4][13] In the Canaries provocarse is to feel sick, and in the Dominican Republic provocar is to make laugh.^[14][15]

Timeline

• c. 1255 – the Crónica de Sahagún, the CDH's earliest hit.^[5]
• 1293 – the Castigos use the participle prouocado.^[5]
• after 1350 – the translation of Jacques de Vitry's Historia de Jerusalem abreviada: „provocaron al Sennor”.^[5]
• c. 1440 – the date Corominas gives, from Alfonso de la Torre and Juan de Mena.^[2][3]
• 1495 – Nebrija records the derivative provocación.^[3]
• 1570 – the first record from the Americas, in Mexico City: provocar a reír.^[16]
• 1591 – Percyvall translates it as “to provoke”.^[17]
• 1786–1793 – Terreros records provocar a beber.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. To cause or produce something, a reaction or feeling; formerly also intransitive with a: El apagón provocó el caos en el metro.^[4][18]
2. To provoke someone, to try to anger them with words or deeds.^[4][1]
3. To arouse sexual desire in someone; also used without an object.^[4][1]
4. (colloquial) To vomit.^[4]
5. (colloquial, Colombia, El Salvador, Venezuela) To appeal to, to make someone fancy something: ¿Te provoca un café?^[4][13][1]
6. (pronominal, Canary Islands) To feel nausea.^[14][1]
7. (Dominican Republic) To make someone laugh.^[15]
8. (medicine) To induce an immune response.^[12]

Word family

• provocación
• provocador
• provocante
• provocativo

Related words

• abogar
• convocar
• evocar
• invocar
• revocar
• voz
• Latin prōvocō
• English provoke

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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, 845
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. voz
4. ^ 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. provocar
5. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. provocar
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 579
8. ^ a b 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. provocar
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 417
11. ^ 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, 234
12. ^ a b Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. provocar
13. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. provocar
14. ^ a b Academia Canaria de la Lengua (2010), Diccionario básico de canarismos, Santa Cruz de Tenerife; online at https://www.academiacanarialengua.org, p. s.v. provocar
15. ^ 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. provocar
16. ^ 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. provacar
17. ^ Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 196
18. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. provocar