reposar

Forms

reposar (first-person singular present reposo, first-person singular preterite reposé, past participle reposado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin repausāre (“to rest, pause”), formed with re- on pausō (“to cease, stop; to rest”).^[2][1][3] Corominas treats it as a derivative common to all the western Romance languages and notes that the Latin noun repausatio already appears in Saint Caesarius of Arles (died 543).^[4] The simple verb comes from Latin pausa (“pause, halt”), which was taken from Ancient Greek παῦσις (paûsis, “a stopping”), from παύω (paúō, “to make cease”).^[1][4]

The same Latin verb is Portuguese repousar, Galician repousar, Catalan reposar, Occitan repausar, French reposer and Italian riposare.^[3][5] The simple verb is posar, and the learned pausar and pausa are of the same root.^[4][3] Autoridades reports Covarrubias's derivation from Latin repōnō, and itself proposed the simple verb with a prefix.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Calila e Dimna (1251, in a copy of about 1400) has it in the sense “to leave at rest”, of blood that was going to be shed: dexar a vida algunt alma medrosa et reposar la sangre “to let a fearful soul live and let the blood rest”.^[7][8] In the Castigos of 1293 the Holy Family enter a cave por reposar ay un poco “to rest there a little”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The noun reposo appears in the Fuero Juzgo (c. 1250–1260) and the Crónica de Sahagún.^[7] The Breve diccionario dates reposo to 1438 and reposar to about 1440, later than the CDH;^[9] DICCA-XV reports a CORDE record of 1370.^[10][9] Nebrija (c. 1495) glosses the verb with Latin requiesco.^[11]

Autoridades (1737) gives the senses “to rest from work”, “to take a short sleep” and “to remain quiet and undisturbed”, and the Academy later added “to lie buried” and the use of liquids that settle.^[6][12] The transitive reposar la comida, to rest after a meal, is in the Academy's dictionary from 1869.^[13] Modern use adds food left to stand after cooking and the sense “to lean on”.^[2]

Timeline

• 1251 – the Calila e Dimna (copy of about 1400).^[7]
• c. 1250–1260 – the noun reposo in the Fuero Juzgo.^[7]
• 1293 – the Castigos use it for resting in a cave.^[7]
• 1438 – the Breve diccionario's date for reposo.^[10]
• c. 1440 – the Breve diccionario's date for reposar.^[10]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija glosses it with Latin requiesco.^[11]
• 1515 – first record in the Americas, in Tierra Firme.^[14]
• 1737 – Autoridades records the senses of resting and sleeping.^[6]
• 1869 – the Academy records reposar la comida.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive, also pronominal) To rest: to stop activity in order to recover from tiredness: Después de la caminata reposamos junto al río.^[2][1]
2. (intransitive) To lie down, usually taking a short sleep.^[2]
3. (intransitive) To lie buried in a place.^[2][15]
4. (intransitive) Of food: to stand for a while after cooking, so that it sets or its flavours blend.^[2]
5. (intransitive) Of a liquid: to stand still so that the particles in it settle.^[2]
6. (intransitive) To rest or be supported on something, also figuratively.^[2]
7. (pronominal, colloquial) To calm down.^[2]
8. (transitive) To rest after a meal to help digestion: reposar la comida.^[2][15]
9. (transitive) To lean a part of the body on something, also figuratively.^[2]

Word family

• reposo
• reposado
• reposadero

Related words

• posar
• pausa
• pausar
• Latin repausō
• Portuguese repousar

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. reposar
3. ^ a b c García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 5604
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 617
5. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 655
6. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 583
7. ^ 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. reposar
8. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. reposar
9. ^ 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. reposar
10. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. posar
11. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 408
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 630
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 675
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. reposar
15. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. reposar