renegar

Forms

renegar (first-person singular present reniego, first-person singular preterite renegué, past participle renegado)^[1]

Etymology

It continues inherited from Vulgar Latin *renegāre (“to deny”), formed with the intensive re- and negō (“to deny”).^[2][3][4] The DHLF dates the Latin verb to the 10th century and thinks it took the sense “to abandon one's faith” in religious use.^[4] Wiktionary instead calls the Spanish verb a borrowing of the Medieval Latin verb, which Du Cange records in formulas abjuring heresy.^[1][5] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of negar, with renegado dated 1220–1250 and reniego 1495.^[6]

The same verb is Portuguese renegar, Galician renegar, Catalan renegar, Occitan renegar, French renier and Italian rinnegare.^[3][2][7] The Latin base verb is from Latin ne (“not”) with a verb suffix.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DEMel's first record is the Fuero de Plasencia of 1221, and Alfonso X's Setenario has rreniega about 1252–1270.^[8] The participle is older in the CDH: Berceo, about 1230, calls the Moors la gent renegada, and the Fueros de Aragón of 1247 forbid anyone to call a convert from Judaism or paganism tornadiço or renegado.^[9]

Semantic evolution

In Old Spanish the verb meant above all to abandon one's religion; an Alfonsine history speaks of those who reniegan su ley.^[10] Nebrija gives Latin “to deny” and, with anger, “to blaspheme”.^[11][12] Covarrubias defines it as denying insistently and, God forbid, renouncing the faith.^[13] The Diccionario de Autoridades has the sense “to blaspheme, to curse out of pain”, with Mariana's todos renegaban y maldecian, and the change of religion, usually from Christianity to Islam.^[14] The Academy added “to insult” in 1843 and later “to grumble”.^[15][16]

In Argentina and Uruguay renegar means to struggle with an awkward thing or person, and Garzón in 1910 already noted its Argentine use for showing impatience without insults.^[17][18] Moliner records renegar de for disowning a relative or friend.^[19] In Andalusia it is said of a rabbit that will not leave its burrow for the ferret, and in León it means to grumble.^[20][21]

Timeline

• 1221 – the Fuero de Plasencia.^[8]
• c. 1230 – Berceo's Vida de San Millán has la gent renegada (in an 18th-century copy).^[9]
• 1247 – the Fueros de Aragón forbid calling a convert renegado.^[9]
• c. 1252–1270 – rreniega in Alfonso X's Setenario.^[8]
• 1438 – Corominas's first date for the infinitive.^[6]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija glosses it “to deny” and “to blaspheme”.^[12][11]
• 1547 – the first record from the Americas, in Yucatán.^[22]
• 1737 – the Diccionario de Autoridades gives the senses “to blaspheme” and “to change religion”.^[14]
• 1910 – Garzón records the Argentine sense “to show impatience”.^[18]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To deny something insistently.^[17][1]
2. (transitive) To detest, abhor.^[17][1]
3. (intransitive) To abandon one's religion for another, formerly above all Christianity for Islam; to apostatize: Renegó de la fe de sus abuelos.^[17][19]
4. (intransitive, with de) To disown a relative or friend, or a bond with them: Acabó renegando de su propio hermano.^[19]
5. (intransitive) To blaspheme (blasfemar), to curse.^[17][1]
6. (intransitive, colloquial) To insult or abuse someone.^[17]
7. (intransitive, colloquial) To grumble (refunfuñar).^[17][1]
8. (intransitive, colloquial, Argentina, Uruguay) To struggle with the troubles that people, things or situations cause: Estuvo toda la tarde renegando con la impresora.^[17]

Word family

• renegado
• renegón
• reniego
• renegador

Related words

• negar
• denegar
• abnegar
• French renier
• Italian rinnegare

Usage notes

Renegar is conjugated like negar, with ie in the stressed forms: reniego, reniegas.^[1][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
3. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
6. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. negar
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro
8. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. renegar
9. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. renegar
10. ^ 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)
11. ^ a b Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv
12. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 408
13. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1257
14. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 573
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 627
16. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. renegar
17. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. renegar
18. ^ a b Garzón, Tobías (1910), Diccionario argentino, Barcelona: Imprenta Elzeviriana de Borrás y Mestres
19. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. renegar
20. ^ Alcalá Venceslada, Antonio (1951), Vocabulario andaluz, Madrid: Real Academia Española, p. 540
21. ^ Le Men Loyer, Janick (2002–2012), Léxico del leonés actual, 4 vols., León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación San Isidoro; electronic version, Universidad de León
22. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies