recibir

Forms

recibir (first-person singular present recibo, first-person singular preterite recibí, past participle recibido)^[1] Old Spanish mostly wrote recebir, rescebir or reçebir;^[2][3] recibir is also found from the 13th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish recebir, inherited from Latin recipiō (“to take back, receive”).^[5][6][7][1] Corominas glosses the Latin verb as “to take, seize” and “to receive”.^[5][6] Henríquez Ureña considers the older form with ⟨e⟩ the regular outcome of the Latin vowels, and the modern form with ⟨i⟩, which has won out, anomalous.^[8]

The same Latin verb is Portuguese receber and Catalan rebre, older reebre.^[4]

recipiō is formed from re- and capiō (“to take, seize”), with the weakening of the unstressed /a/ of the root.^[9][1] capiō goes back to *kapjō.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the first record to 1100 and cites the Cantar de mio Cid.^[5][6] In the Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy) Don Martino takes the money he has been promised: „Gradeciólo don Martino e recibió los marcos” “Don Martín thanked them and received the marks”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The core sense, taking what one is given or sent, was there from the start, and Alfonso X's Lapidario (1250–1279) already uses the verb for suffering harm, for one thing taking another into itself and for an accepted prayer.^[11] The Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200) has the sense “welcome (a guest)”: „Recibiol bien Laban a Jacob” “Laban received Jacob well”.^[10]

In 1737 the Diccionario de Autoridades gave the senses “take into one's power what another gives”, “bear a weight” and “suffer harm”.^[12] The Academy's 1869 edition specified receiving visitors on a set day or whenever one sees fit, and Alemany's dictionary of 1917 has the bullfighting sense, in which the matador waits for the bull's charge without moving his feet.^[13][14] The DLE now adds the receiving of signals by a radio or other device.^[7] In much of Latin America the reflexive recibirse means “to graduate, obtain one's degree”.^[15][1]

Timeline

• 1100 – the first record, according to Corominas.^[5][6]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has recibió los marcos.^[10]
• 1202 – the Cortes of Benavente use the spelling rescibido, the earliest record not known only from a later copy.^[10]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses the verb for receiving, suffering harm and admitting.^[11]
• 1523 – the first record from the Americas, in Panama, spelt rezebimos.^[16]
• 1604 – the derivative recibo “receipt” is first recorded.^[5][6]
• 1737 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines the verb and derives it from Latin recipere.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology “Del lat. recipĕre”.^[17]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To receive or get what is given or sent: Recibí tu paquete el lunes.^[7][1]
2. (transitive) To take charge of something handed over or sent.^[7]
3. (transitive) Of a body: to support or hold up another.^[7]
4. (transitive) To suffer harm that another does or that happens by chance: recibir un golpe.^[7][18]
5. (transitive) Of a thing: to take another into itself, as the sea takes in rivers.^[7]
6. (transitive) To accept or approve something; to admit someone into one's company or community.^[7]
7. (transitive, intransitive) To welcome or go out to meet someone who arrives; to receive visitors.^[7][1]
8. (transitive) To face an attacker with the resolve to resist.^[7]
9. (construction) To fix with plaster or another material a piece set into a wall, such as a beam or a window.^[7]
10. (law) Of a public body: to accept officially a finished building or work.^[7]
11. (bullfighting) Of the matador: to wait for the bull's charge without moving the feet when going in to kill.^[7]
12. (telecommunications) Of a device: to pick up waves or signals sent by another.^[7]
13. (reflexive, Latin America) To graduate, obtain one's degree: Se recibió de abogada en 2019.^[15][1]

Word family

• recibidor
• recibimiento
• recibo

Related words

• concebir
• percibir
• recepción
• receptáculo
• receptar
• receptivo
• receptor
• recipiente
• receta
• Latin recipiō
• Portuguese receber

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. recibir
3. ^ a b Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando, p. 360
4. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 5489
5. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 165
6. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. recibir
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. recibir
8. ^ Henríquez Ureña, Pedro (2015), Obras completas, vol. 12: 1936–1940 III, ed. Miguel D. Mena, Santo Domingo: Ministerio de Cultura, p. 131
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. recipiō
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, p. s.v. recibir
11. ^ 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. recibir
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 515
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 660
14. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1424
15. ^ 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. recibir
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. recebir
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 904
18. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. recibir