referir

Forms

referir (first-person singular present refiero, first-person singular preterite referí, past participle referido)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin referre (“to carry back; to report, relate”), recorded from about 1440.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin verb is made of re- (“back, again”) and ferō (“to carry, bear”).^[5][1][6]

Old Spanish also had a popular referir “to drive back, ward off”, used by Berceo and in the Libro de Alexandre.^[2][7] Corominas takes it from the same Latin verb in the sense “to reply, repel”, and derives Old Spanish refertar (“to reproach”) from a Vulgar Latin *referitāre, whence modern reyerta “quarrel”.^[7][8]

The same Latin verb gave the learned words relación, relatar and relativo, from its supine relātum, and referéndum and refrendar.^[2][3] Corominas treats it with preferir, conferir, diferir and the other learned compounds of the same Latin verb.^[2][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas finds the first record in A. de la Torre, about 1440, after C. C. Smith.^[2][3] In 1490 Alfonso de Palencia has it both for “to report”, glossing Latin reportare with refirir y denunciar, and for “to relate to”: an explicit refiérese al libro que se acaba “refers to the book that is ending”.^[2] The word is missing from Nebrija and Pedro de Alcalá, but was by then common in both senses.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the Golden Age and in Cervantes referir was in full use for “to tell, relate” and for “to refer to”.^[2] Autoridades defines only “to tell, say or relate”, quoting Herrera's and Solís's histories.^[10] Terreros adds “to direct to an end” and a nautical use with the topsail.^[11] The Academy's 1817 edition has “to direct towards an end”, the sense of aferir “to check weights and measures”, an obsolete “to attribute” and the reflexive “to bear relation to” and “to refer back to what was said”.^[12] Salvá in 1846 lists further old senses: to drive away, repel, hold back, pursue.^[13] The 1899 edition gives the modern definition, “to make known, by speech or in writing, a fact true or invented”.^[14]

Modern Spanish uses the reflexive referirse a for “to allude to, mention” and “to concern”, and linguistics uses the verb for a word's reference.^[4] In medicine it is used for the patient's report of symptoms and for pain felt in another part of the body.^[15] In Mexico referir also means “to throw (a favour) in someone's face”, and in Central America “to utter an insult”.^[16][17] In the Dominican Republic it means to send a patient to a specialist.^[18]

Timeline

• c. 1440 – first record, in A. de la Torre.^[2][3]
• 1490 – Alfonso de Palencia uses it for “to report” and “to relate to”.^[2]
• 1548 – the first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[19]
• 1591 – Percyvall glosses it “to report”, Latin narrare.^[20]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades defines it as “to tell, say or relate”.^[10]
• 1737 – first record of the derivative referente.^[3]
• 1817 – the Academy adds the reflexive senses and “to direct to an end”.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology, Latin referre.^[21]
• 19th century – referencia enters the Academy's dictionary.^[2][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To relate, tell or report a true or invented event, by speech or in writing: El abuelo nos refirió cómo había cruzado la frontera.^[4][1]
2. To direct or order something towards a given end.^[4]
3. To put one thing in relation with another or with a person; mostly reflexive.^[4]
4. (obsolete) To check weights and measures, = aferir.^[4]
5. (obsolete) To attribute deeds or qualities to someone, sometimes without sure knowledge.^[4]
6. (linguistics) To establish a relation of reference; to have a referent.^[4]
7. (Mexico) To throw a favour in someone's face;^[16][17] (Central America) to utter an insult.^[16][17]
8. (Dominican Republic) To send a patient to be seen by another professional, especially a doctor.^[18]

Reflexive verb (referirse)

1. To allude to, mention: ¿A quién te refieres con eso?^[4][1]
2. To refer back to what has been said or done.^[4]
3. To deal with someone or something; to concern: en lo que se refiere al dinero.^[4]

Word family

• referente
• referimiento
• referencia
• referible

Related words

• relatar
• relato
• relativo
• refrendar
• reyerta
• preferir
• conferir
• Latin referō

Usage notes

Referir is conjugated like sentir: refiero, refirió.^[1] The Old Spanish verb referir “to drive back, keep away” is recorded in the 13th century: the Poridat de las poridades (c. 1250) says of a black stone that it rrefiere las tempestas “wards off storms”.^[22][2]

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 k l Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 632
3. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. referir
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. referir
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 598
7. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 902
8. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 645
9. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. referir
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 535
11. ^ 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, 314
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 740
13. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 927
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 854
15. ^ Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. referir
16. ^ a b c Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 709
17. ^ a b c Santamaría, Francisco J. (1959), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Porrúa, p. 926
18. ^ a b 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. referir
19. ^ 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. referir
20. ^ Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 202
21. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 910
22. ^ Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. referir