recular

Forms

recular (first-person singular present reculo, first-person singular preterite reculé, past participle reculado)^[1]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from French reculer (“to move back”).^[2][3][4] French formed its verb in the 12th century from re-, cul (“backside”) and a verb ending.^[5][1] Corominas finds the French origin likely because of the late date of the Spanish word, its very limited use, and Autoridades' remark that it belonged to the language of artillery.^[4] He adds that the French verb may come by haplology from *rereculer, with the prefix of Latin retrō (“backwards”).^[4]

The same verb exists in the other Romance languages: Italian rinculare, Occitan recular, Catalan recular, Portuguese recuar and Galician recuar.^[4] García de Diego therefore derives the Spanish verb directly from Vulgar Latin *reculare.^[6]

The French noun continues cūlus (“backside”), the source of culo.^[4][7] De Vaan traces it to Proto-Italic *kūlo- (“back”) and Proto-Indo-European *kuH-lo- (“backside, rear”), with Celtic cognates such as Old Irish cúl (“back”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Old Spanish Textual Archive has a single occurrence, in Juan Fernández de Heredia's Crónica de los conqueridores (1376–1396).^[8] The CDH's first record is the Libro del Tesoro in a manuscript of Girona of 1400–1425, which says that something never draws back: Jamas el no recula.^[9] Corominas's first record is much later, Oudin's dictionary of 1607;^[4][3] Alonso de Palencia, Nebrija and Covarrubias lack the word.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

In 1513 Gabriel Alonso de Herrera already uses the word for animals backing out of a hole.^[9] In the Americas it is recorded from 1571 in Mexico City, in phrases such as recular de miedo “to fall back in fear”.^[10]

Autoridades defines it as “to draw back, retreat”, as in artillery, where a gun is said to recoil, and in familiar style as giving up one's opinion.^[11] Terreros also uses it of a firearm that kicks back when fired.^[12] The Academy recorded the adverbial phrase a reculones “backwards” in 1843, and between 1884 and 1917 explained the verb as a Spanish formation from re- and culo.^[13][14][15] The current DLE takes it from French instead.^[2]

Timeline

• 1376–1396 – Juan Fernández de Heredia's Crónica de los conqueridores has the verb.^[8]
• 1400–1425 – the Libro del Tesoro (Girona manuscript) has recula “draws back”.^[9]
• 1513 – Gabriel Alonso de Herrera's Obra de agricultura uses reculando.^[9]
• 1571 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico City.^[10]
• 1607 – Oudin's dictionary, Corominas's first record.^[4][3]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades records the artillery use and the figurative sense “to give way”.^[11]
• 1843 – the Academy records a reculones.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. To move back, go backwards: El caballo reculó asustado hasta la cerca.^[2][1][16]
2. (colloquial) Of a person, to back down or give way in an opinion or decision: Ante las protestas, el ministro tuvo que recular.^[2][1][17]

Word family

• reculada
• reculo
• reculón

Related words

• culo
• acular
• cejar
• French reculer

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. recular
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. culo
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 287
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. reculer
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 5506
7. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b 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. recular
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro
12. ^ 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, 308
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 618
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 908
15. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1428
16. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. recular
17. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. recular