reponer

Forms

reponer (first-person singular present repongo, first-person singular preterite repuse, past participle repuesto)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin repōnere (“to put back, replace”).^[2][1][3] The Latin verb is formed from re- (“back, again”) and pōnō (“to put, place”), so the Spanish word also reads as poner with the prefix re-.^[4][1][5] Corominas lists it among the compounds of that verb and dates it only from the Diccionario de Autoridades.^[6]

The same verb is Asturian reponer, Portuguese repor, Galician repor and Italian riporre.^[3][1] For the Portuguese word Nascentes allows either a Latin source or a compound of pôr.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DICCA-XV's first record of the sense “put back” is the Tesoro de la Pasión (1494), which asks Jesus to put the sufferers' sorrows back in the secret of his heart.^[8] Its earliest record of the lemma, a document of 1424 from the Sástago archive, is the preterite repuso “replied”, and it reports a CORDE record of 1377–1399.^[8] The CDH files the Old Spanish respuso “he answered”, from the Cantar de mio Cid on, under this verb, but Corominas assigns that form to responder.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

Covarrubias (1611) gave reponer as “to revoke”.^[11] The Diccionario de Autoridades (1737) defined it as putting a thing back where it had been, and recorded legal senses (to restore a lawsuit to its earlier stage; to subrogate an heir to the rights of the dead party) and a sense in the card game hombre.^[12] By 1846 Salvá added “to replace what is missing”, “to reply” and the reflexive “to recover one's health or fortune”.^[13] Today it is also used for staging a play or showing a film again.^[2]

Timeline

• 1494 – the Tesoro de la Pasión uses reponga “may he put back”.^[8]
• 1542 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico.^[14]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as “to revoke”.^[11]
• 1737 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the word with its legal senses.^[12][6]
• 1846 – Salvá records the senses “to reply” and “to recover”.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology from Latin reponere.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To reinstate or restore: to put someone or something back in a former post, place or state.^[2][1]
2. (transitive) To replace what is missing or has been taken out: Hay que reponer el papel de la impresora.^[2][1]
3. (transitive) To reply or retort: —Ya es tarde —repuso el portero.^[2]
4. (transitive) To stage a play or show a film again in a later season.^[2]
5. (transitive, law) To return a case to an earlier stage; of a judge, to amend his own ruling.^[2]
6. (reflexive) To recover one's health or fortune; to calm down: Tardó un mes en reponerse de la gripe.^[2][1]

Word family

• reponedor

Related words

• poner
• reposición
• repuesto
• responder
• Latin repōnō

Usage notes

In the sense “to reply” the verb is used almost only in the preterite and the past subjunctive (repuso, repusiera).^[16][13] Corominas explains repuso “he replied” as a dissimilated form of Old Spanish respuso, the preterite of responder, which Bello took for a form of reponer;^[10][17] Cuervo explained it correctly.^[10][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. reponer
3. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 5612
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. repōnō
5. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 605
6. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 607
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. repor
8. ^ a b c 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. reponer
9. ^ Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. reponer
10. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 887
11. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1259
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 582
13. ^ a b c Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 942
14. ^ 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. reponer
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 923
16. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. reponer
17. ^ a b Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José, p. 86