recorrer

Forms

recorrer (first-person singular present recorro, first-person singular preterite recorrí, past participle recorrido)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin recurrō (“to run back, hurry back”), formed re- (“back”) + currō (“to run”).^[2][1][3][4] García de Diego counts it as the popular outcome of the Latin verb, while recurrir “to have recourse” is the learned one.^[5] Wiktionary calls recorrer and recurrir doublets.^[5][1] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of correr, and the Academy's first dictionary already analysed it as that verb with a prefix.^[6][7][8] Bénaben explains the modern sense by the prefix: in Spanish the prefix became intensive rather than “back”, so that the word came to mean “run all over, go through a place from end to end”.^[9]

The same Latin verb is Catalan recórrer, Portuguese recorrer and Italian ricorrere.^[5][10][11] French recourir was formed in French itself with the same prefix on the old verb courre (“to run”), and took some of its senses from the Latin word.^[12]

The Latin verb for “run” goes back to *korzō and *ḱers- (“to run”).^[1] De Vaan reconstructs a thematic present with the root in the zero grade, and connects the Gaulish word for a cart that gave Latin carrus, and perhaps the Germanic word for “horse”.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest hit in the CDH is the Aragonese law code Vidal Mayor of about 1250, where the word means “to have recourse to”: where the fueros are not enough, al natural seso et memoria sea recorrido “let recourse be had to natural sense and memory”.^[14][15] The same sense of turning to someone for help is common in Juan Fernández de Heredia's translations of the 1370s and 1380s: se recorrer a las armas “to resort to arms”.^[14]

Semantic evolution

Corominas and the BDELC date the word from Alonso de Palencia's dictionary of 1490.^[6][7] In 1591 Percyvall still glossed it “to run unto, to run back”.^[16] Cervantes uses recorrer la memoria “to search one's memory” and recorrer los trastes de la vihuela “to run over the frets of the guitar”.^[17] The Diccionario de Autoridades defined it as searching a place carefully, going from one part to another, and also gave “to read over”, “to repair” and the phrases recorrer la memoria and recorrer los cañaverales, said of someone who goes from house to house begging, from the fishermen who check their canes in the morning.^[8]

The old sense “to have recourse” was still listed as intransitive in 1817, and the DLE now marks it obsolete, sending the reader to recurrir.^[18][2] Salvá added a printing sense in 1846, and the Academy's 1899 edition was the first to give the sense of travelling over a space or a distance, now the main one.^[19][20][2] In the Dominican Republic recorrer la cortina means to walk about a great deal out of curiosity or for pleasure.^[21]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – Vidal Mayor uses it for “to have recourse to”.^[14][15]
• 1376–1396 – Juan Fernández de Heredia's translations use recorrer a for “to resort to”.^[14]
• 1490 – first record for Corominas, in Alonso de Palencia.^[6][7]
• 1591 – Percyvall glosses it “to run unto, to run back”.^[16]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades gives the senses “to search”, “to read over” and “to repair”.^[8]
• 1846 – Salvá records the printing sense.^[19]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin recurrere.^[22]
• 1899 – the Academy adds the sense “to travel over a space or distance”.^[20]

Meanings

Verb

1. To go through or across a place from one end to the other; to tour: Recorrimos Galicia en tres semanas.^[2][1]
2. To cover a route or a distance: Cada día recorre veinte kilómetros a pie.^[2][1]
3. To search or inspect a place carefully, going from one part of it to another.^[2][23]
4. To look over a text quickly (repasar).^[2][23]
5. To repair what had been damaged.^[2]
6. (printing) To justify type by moving letters from one line to another after corrections or a change in the page width.^[2]
7. (obsolete, intransitive) To appeal to a judge or authority; to turn to someone for help (recurrir).^[2]

Word family

• recorrido

Related words

• correr
• recurrir
• recurso
• Latin recurrō
• Catalan recórrer

Usage notes

In the Middle Ages the verb mostly meant “to have recourse”, the sense now taken by recurrir.^[14] Corominas dates that learned verb from 1427.^[14][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. recorrer
3. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. recorrer
5. ^ a b c García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 5509
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 208
7. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. correr
8. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 525
9. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. recorrer
10. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 643
11. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. recorrer
12. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. recourir
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ 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. recorrer
15. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. recorrer
16. ^ 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
17. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. 952
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 737
19. ^ a b Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 923
20. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 850
21. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. recorrer
22. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 907
23. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. recorrer