repeler

Forms

repeler (first-person singular present repelo, first-person singular preterite repelí, past participle repelido)^[1] Old Spanish also had repelir, in the Corbacho and in Alfonso de Palencia, and Heredia and an ordinance for Zaragoza of the late 14th century have repellir.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin repellō (“to push back, drive away”).^[2][4][1] The Latin verb is formed from re- (“back”) and pellō (“to beat, push, strike”).^[5][6][7]

Corominas records the form repelir in the Corbacho and in Alfonso de Palencia's dictionary, and the present spelling only from Autoridades on; the CDH has the verb, in the past participle, already in Heredia's translation of Orosius (1376–1396).^[2][3][8]

The same Latin verb gave Portuguese repelir, Catalan repel·lir and Italian repellere.^[1][9][10]

Wiktionary derives the simple verb from a nasal-infix present of *pel- (“to drive, strike, thrust”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Heredia's Orosius a man seyendo repelido et echado desde el muro del templo “being driven back and thrown from the wall of the temple” by the people defending it: the first sense is “to drive back” by force.^[3]

Semantic evolution

A royal ordinance for Zaragoza of 1391 uses repellir for expelling people from the city and its lands.^[3] In the Americas the verb appears from 1558, at first in legal writing, of rejecting a written plea; a medical text of 1592 speaks of driving back the humour of an inflammation.^[11] Autoridades defined it as throwing something off with force and as rejecting a proposal, senses the Academy kept through the 19th century.^[12][13] The DLE has added the physical sense of a material that does not let another into its mass, as a fabric repels water, and the intransitive sense “to cause disgust or aversion”.^[4][14]

Timeline

• 1376–1396 – Heredia's translation of Orosius has the participle repelido.^[3]
• 1391 – an ordinance for Zaragoza uses the form repellir.^[3]
• 1438 – the Corbacho has repelir.^[2][15]
• 1492 – Nebrija glosses Latin repello with rechazar.^[8]
• 1558 – first record in the Americas, in La Paz.^[11]
• 1737 – Autoridades records repeler and the participle repelente.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To repel, drive back, push away: La guarnición repelió el asalto.^[4][14]
2. To reject or contradict an idea, proposal or statement.^[4][14]
3. Of a substance: not to let another into its mass: Este tejido repele la lluvia.^[4][14]
4. (intransitive, also pronominal) To cause disgust or aversion: Me repele su falsedad.^[4][14]

Word family

• repelencia
• repelente

Related words

• repulsa
• repulsión
• impeler
• compeler
• Latin repello

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 161
3. ^ 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. repeler
4. ^ a b c d e f 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. repeler
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. repellō
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
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. ^ 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, p. s.v. repeler
9. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 2890
10. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. repel·lir
11. ^ 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. repeler
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 579
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 922
14. ^ a b c d e Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. repeler
15. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 557