quedar

Forms

quedar (first-person singular present quedo, first-person singular preterite quedé, past participle quedado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish quedar, inherited from Vulgar Latin *quētāre, from Late Latin quiētāre (“to calm, make quiet”).^[2][3][1][4] The Latin verb is formed on quiētus (“quiet, calm”), the past participle of quiēscō (“to rest, keep still”).^[2][5][1] Corominas explains the change of meaning through the reflexive: the oldest sense was transitive, “to quiet, silence”, which gave the reflexive quedarse “to keep still”.^[2] From that came the intransitive “to remain”.^[2][6]

Of the other Romance languages only Portuguese quedar and Italian chetare (“to calm”) kept the Latin verb; the Catalan word quedar is a loan from Spanish, recorded from 1594.^[2][7]

The same Latin verb gave the learned quietar and, through Medieval Latin and French, quitar;^[1][7] English quit is a cognate.^[1][7] Spanish also has the adjective quedo “still, quiet”, inherited from the participle itself, and its learned doublet quieto.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Menéndez Pidal reads quede ventura in the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140) as “may fortune remain”, but Corominas calls this single example doubtful.^[8][2] The verb is common from Berceo on, as in De los dos que li quedan “of the two that remain to him”.^[2][9] A Mozarabic kharja of the 11th or 12th century already has the reflexive.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Medieval texts use the transitive quedar “to quiet, silence” (Calila, Alexandre, Apolonio), the reflexive quedarse “to keep still” and “to fall asleep”, and the intransitive senses “to cease, stop” and “to rest”.^[2] From the 13th century the usual sense is “to stay, remain”.^[2][10] Quedar a deber “to remain in debt” appears at the end of the 15th century, and a transitive sense “to leave” from the 16th, still found in Colombia and Extremadura.^[2]

Covarrubias recorded quedarse in a sermon or speech for losing the thread, and connected the verb with rest and stillness.^[11] Autoridades gave the senses “to stop in a place”, “to be left over” and “to be lacking”.^[12] The modern verb also means to agree on something, to arrange to meet, to be situated and, reflexive, to keep something for oneself.^[3][1] In Panama and Colombia quedarse is said of someone, especially a woman, who stays unmarried, and in Colombia of failing an exam.^[13]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – a single doubtful example in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[2][8]
• c. 1200 – La fazienda de Ultra Mar, in a 13th-century copy.^[9]
• 1228–1246 – frequent in Berceo, here in a copy of the early 14th century.^[2][9]
• 1270–1284 – Alfonso X's Estoria de España uses it for staying in a place.^[10]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija renders quedarse by Latin maneo and remaneo.^[14]
• 1594 – first record of the Spanish loan in Catalan.^[2]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from Latin quiete.^[11]
• 1737 – Autoridades defines it as stopping or staying in a place.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology from Latin quietare.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive, also reflexive) To stay or stop in a place: Nos quedamos en casa todo el domingo.^[3][1]
2. (intransitive) To be left, to remain: Solo quedan dos sillas libres.^[3][1]
3. (intransitive) To end up in a state, or to remain in it: El trabajo quedó sin terminar.^[3][16][1]
4. (intransitive) To gain a reputation through one's conduct: quedar como un cobarde.^[3]
5. (intransitive) To come to an end.^[3]
6. (intransitive) To agree on something: Quedaron en verse el lunes.^[3][1]
7. (intransitive) To arrange to meet: ¿A qué hora quedamos?^[3][1]
8. (intransitive) To be situated: La estación queda cerca del puerto.^[3][1]
9. (intransitive) Of clothes, to fit or suit.^[1]
10. (reflexive, also transitive) To keep, to take possession of: Me quedo con este libro.^[3][1]
11. (reflexive) Of the wind or the sea, to die down.^[3]
12. (reflexive) To die.^[3][1]

Word family

• queda
• quedada

Related words

• quedo
• quieto
• quitar
• aquietar
• Latin quiētus
• Portuguese quedar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 708
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. quedar
4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
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. quedar
6. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. quedar
7. ^ a b c García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. quietare
8. ^ a b Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. s.v. quedar
9. ^ 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. quedar
10. ^ 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. quedar
11. ^ 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. 1240
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 461
13. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. quedar
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. quedar
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 886
16. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. quedar