renovar

Forms

renovar (first-person singular present renuevo, first-person singular preterite renové, past participle renovado)^[1] Old Spanish wrote renouar or rrenouar; the stressed forms have ue: renueua, renueve.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin renovō (“to restore, renew”).^[3][1][4] Corominas lists it among the popular derivatives of nuevo, not among the learned words of that family.^[5] This verb is formed from Latin re- + novō (“to make new”), from novus (“new”).^[6][7] De Vaan traces the adjective to Proto-Indo-European *neuo- (“new, young”).^[8]

The forms stressed on the stem have the diphthong ue of the adjective, an irregularity Autoridades already pointed out.^[9][1] The same verb is Catalan renovar and Portuguese renovar, the latter recorded from the 13th century, and Italian rinnovare.^[4][10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Liber Regum (1194–1211, in a copy of the early 13th century) says that Ezra the prophet renouo la lei “renewed the law”.^[12][2] The Fuero de Zorita (1218–c. 1250) requires that sureties sean renouadas “be renewed”; the BDELC dates the verb 1220–50.^[12][5]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's astronomical prose uses the pronominal verb of the moon, which se renueva as it leaves the sun.^[13] Berceo uses it of the Eucharist renewed in memory of Christ, and the Church sense, a priest consuming the old hosts and consecrating new ones, is still in the DLE.^[12][3] Autoridades defined it as making a thing as new, starting again something interrupted, and replacing one thing with another.^[9] The Academy's 1884 edition added replacing an old thing with a new one of the same kind and repeating or publishing again; the DLE also has “to give new energy to, transform”, as when an author renews the theatre of his time.^[14][3]

Timeline

• 1194–1211 – the Liber Regum has renouo la lei.^[12]
• 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita speaks of sureties renouadas.^[12]
• 1254 – Alfonso X's astronomical prose uses se renueva of the moon.^[13]
• 1495 – first records of renovación and renuevo.^[5]
• 1545 – first record from the Americas, in the Río de la Plata.^[15]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades notes the alternation renovar / renuevo.^[9]
• 1884 – the Academy lists the replacing of old things and the Church sense.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. (also pronominal) To make something as if new, or return it to its first state; to renovate.^[3][1]
2. (also pronominal) To renew or resume a relationship or something that had been interrupted.^[3][1]
3. To change, put in again or replace something.^[3]
4. To replace something old or used with a new thing of the same kind: Este año renovamos los muebles de la cocina.^[3]
5. To give new energy to something, to transform it.^[3]
6. To repeat, or publish again.^[3]
7. (Catholicism) Of a priest: to consume the old hosts (hostias) and consecrate new ones.^[3]

Word family

• renovable
• renovación
• renovador
• renuevo

Related words

• nuevo
• innovar
• Latin novus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. renovar
3. ^ 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. renovar
4. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 5603
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. nuevo
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. renouō
7. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 604
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5
10. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 2890
11. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. rénover
12. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. renovar
13. ^ a b 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), p. s.v. renovar
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 920
15. ^ 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. renovar