reprender

Forms

reprender (first-person singular present reprendo, first-person singular preterite reprendí, past participle reprendido)^[1] Old Spanish forms include rreprenda, repreendie and the participle reprendudos.^[2] The Latinising spelling reprehender was common in the Golden Age: Nebrija and Cervantes use it.^[3][4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin reprendō (“to hold back, catch; to censure”), the contracted form of the Latin verb.^[3][6][1][7] The Latin verb is formed from re- (“back”) and prehendō (“to grasp, seize”), the source of prender.^[8][9][10] García de Diego gives Catalan reprendre and rependre for Catalan.^[11]

De Vaan reconstructs the simple verb as Proto-Italic *prai-χend- (“to seize”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰend- (“to grab”), and compares Ancient Greek χανδάνω (khandánō, “to grab”) and Gothic 𐌳𐌿𐌲𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 (duginnan, “to begin”).^[12] The contraction to prendō, the form Spanish continues, is attested from Terence on.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word to the middle of the 13th century, in the Libro de los buenos proverbios and the Calila.^[3][6] The Fueros de Aragón of 1247 use it in a legal sense: the person to whom a promise was made puede reprender o reptar ante la iusticia “may accuse or challenge before the judge” the one who made it.^[13] In the Libro de Alexandre (1240–1250, in an early 15th-century copy) the painter Apelles could find no fault with a lady's nose: non podriá Apelles reprenderla en nada.^[13]

Semantic evolution

Old Spanish also kept the physical sense of the Latin verb: in Alfonso X's General estoria the basket carrying a child is caught (represo) in a reed bed, and wine takes hold of the hearts of the proud.^[14] The sense “to rebuke, admonish” was usual from the same period, as in a text of Alfonso X of about 1254.^[14] The derivative reprendimiento is recorded as early as 1206.^[3]

The Academy defined the verb in 1817 as to correct, scold and condemn a foolish word or deed, and since 1843 as to correct or admonish someone by finding fault with what they have said or done, the definition the DLE still gives.^[15][16][9] In the Americas it is recorded from 1546, in Santo Domingo, in the spelling reprehender.^[5]

Timeline

• 1206 – the derivative reprendimiento in a charter.^[3]
• 1240–1250 – reprenderla in the Libro de Alexandre (in an early 15th-century copy).^[13]
• 1247 – the Fueros de Aragón use reprender “to accuse in court”.^[13]
• c. 1250 – the Libro de los buenos proverbios and the Calila, Corominas's first records.^[3]
• 1272–1280 – Alfonso X's General estoria uses the verb for “to catch, take hold of”.^[14]
• 1546 – first record in the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[5]
• 1843 – the Academy gives the modern definition.^[16]

Meanings

Verb

1. To reprimand, rebuke or admonish someone, finding fault with what they have said or done: La maestra reprendió a los alumnos por su retraso.^[9][1][17]

Word family

• reprensión
• reprensible
• reprensor
• reprendedor

Related words

• prender
• aprender
• comprender
• represalia
• Latin reprehendō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. reprender
3. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 638
4. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. 968
5. ^ a b c 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. reprehender
6. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. prender
7. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. reprender
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c 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. reprender
10. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 605
11. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. reprender
12. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE
14. ^ a b c 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. reprender
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 754
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 630
17. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. reprender