recoger

Forms

recoger (first-person singular present recojo, first-person singular preterite recogí, past participle recogido)^[1] Aragonese has recollir, recorded in a document of 1331 from Zaragoza.^[2] Asturian has recoyer.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin recolligō (“to gather up again, collect”).^[4][5][1][3] The Latin verb is formed from re- (“again”) and colligō (“to gather together”), the source of coger, which in turn contains legō (“to gather; to read”).^[6][1][5] recolegir is a learned doublet.^[1]

The same Latin verb gave Portuguese recolher, Galician recoller, Asturian recoyer and Catalan recollir.^[3] Further afield it is French recueillir and Italian raccogliere.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Fuero de Alcaraz (before 1296) has it as a reflexive verb, “to take refuge”: a debtor, thief or traitor who flees and en eglesia o en palacio se recogiere “takes refuge in a church or palace” may be taken out of it without penalty.^[2] A letter of 1308 from James II has recoger nos en las galeas “to embark on the galleys”.^[2] The BDELC gives 1495, from Nebrija.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The early records are mostly of withdrawing or gathering: in 1332 the knights of the Order of the Band are told to withdraw each to his side (se recojan cada uno a su parte).^[2] Nebrija gives Latin recolligo and recipio as equivalents, and Percyvall in 1591 “to gather up, to take up, to retire, to withdraw”.^[7][8] Covarrubias defines it as receiving something into oneself, and recogerse as “to withdraw”.^[9]

The Diccionario de Autoridades lists “to take again”, “to gather what is scattered” and “to shrink, tighten”.^[10] The Academy's 1817 edition adds the senses “to put away safely”, “to save up money”, “to give shelter” and “to lock up someone as insane”; that of 1843 adds “to harvest”, and that of 1869 the reflexive “to go home” and “to go to bed”.^[11][12][13] Modern uses include fetching a person or thing, collecting the post, tidying a room and putting up one's hair.^[4][14] Regional senses include accepting a bet in the Dominican Republic and fielding a ground ball in Puerto Rican baseball.^[15][16]

Timeline

• before 1296 – the Fuero de Alcaraz uses se recogiere “takes refuge”.^[2]
• 1308 – a letter from James II has recoger nos en las galeas.^[2]
• 1331 – Aragonese recollir in a document from Zaragoza.^[2]
• 1495 – Nebrija, the BDELC's first record, with recogimiento.^[5]
• 1519 – first record from the Americas, in Puerto Rico: recoger los puercos perdidos “round up the lost pigs”.^[17]
• 1591 – Percyvall glosses it “to gather up, to retire, to withdraw”.^[8]
• 1843 – the Academy adds “to harvest”.^[12]
• 1869 – the Academy adds the reflexive “to go to bed”.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. To take something again.^[4]
2. To pick up something that has fallen: Recogió las llaves del suelo.^[4][14]
3. To gather or bring together scattered people or things.^[4]
4. To harvest crops.^[4][1]
5. To receive the consequences, good or bad, of what one has done; to reap.^[4]
6. To shorten or tighten something; to put up one's hair (also reflexive).^[4]
7. To put something away safely; to save up, especially money.^[4]
8. To tidy a house or room; to fold or roll up again something spread out.^[4][1]
9. To fetch or collect a person or thing: Paso a recogerte a las nueve.^[14][1]
10. Of the post office: to collect the letters from the post boxes.^[4]
11. To give shelter to someone.^[4]
12. (reflexive) To withdraw; to go home or to bed.^[13][1]

Word family

• recogedor
• recogepelotas
• recogida
• recogimiento

Related words

• coger
• acoger
• escoger
• encoger
• recolegir
• English recollect

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. recoger
3. ^ a b c García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. recolligere
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. recoger
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. coger
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 406
8. ^ a b Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 201
9. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1250
10. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 519
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 736
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 616
13. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 661
14. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. recoger
15. ^ 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. recoger
16. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. recoger
17. ^ 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. recoger