representar

Forms

representar (first-person singular present represento, first-person singular preterite representé, past participle representado)^[1] Old Spanish texts often spell it rrepresentar.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin repraesentō (“to bring before one, show, make present”).^[3][1][4] Vox dates the borrowing to the 13th century, and Corominas lists it among the learned words of the family of ser, first in Berceo.^[5][6][7] The same Latin verb gave Portuguese representar, Catalan representar, French représenter and Italian rappresentare.^[1][8]

That verb is formed from Latin re- + praesentō.^[9][1] The French historical dictionary takes the prefix as intensive, Gómez de Silva as “again”.^[8][10] praesentō (“to present”) is derived from praesēns (“present”), the word behind presente and presentar.^[5][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Berceo's Del sacrificio de la misa (1228–1246, in a 14th-century copy) says that the priests' vestments „representan” the pure flesh of Christ, that is, stand for it as symbols.^[11] The Fueros de Aragón of 1247 speak of the creature that „representa la figura de ihesu xristo”.^[11] DEMel lists an earlier form, represente, in the Leonese fueros it dates 1192.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Alfonso X's prose the verb means to be the image or symbol of something, and to show it: the armillary sphere „representa & muestra” the shape of the sky.^[12][11] Covarrubias in 1611 gave the senses “to make something present to us by words or figures” and “to act a part”, noting that actors were called representantes, and the legal sense of standing in another's place, as a son represents his father.^[13] The Diccionario de Autoridades added “to inform, declare” and “to show outwardly”.^[14]

The theatrical sense “to perform a play in public” was in the Academy's dictionary by 1817, and the sense “to act on behalf of someone” replaced the older legal wording in 1899.^[15][16] Later additions are “to look a certain age” and the intransitive “to matter much or little”.^[3][17] In Venezuela the verb is also used of an object that looks expensive.^[18]

Timeline

• 1228–1246 – Berceo's Del sacrificio de la misa.^[11][6]
• 1247 – the Fueros de Aragón.^[11]
• 1272–1275 – the General Estoria of Alfonso X: an idol „nin representa nin muestra” anything real.^[12]
• 1513 – Nebrija glosses it with Latin repraesento and ago.^[19]
• 1515 – the first record from the Americas, in Tierra Firme, of declaring a charge as a witness.^[20]
• 1591 – Percyvall translates it “to represent, to play a comedy”.^[21]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records representantes for actors.^[13]
• 1817 – the Academy lists the sense of acting a play in public.^[15]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin repraesentare.^[22]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, also pronominal) To make something present to the mind with words or images; to imagine it: Todavía me represento la casa de mi infancia.^[3][1]
2. (transitive) To inform, declare or report.^[3]
3. (transitive) Of a person: to show the feeling that possesses him or her.^[3]
4. (transitive) To perform a play in public; to play a part in one.^[3][1]
5. (transitive) To stand in for someone, or to act on behalf of a person, a company or an organization; to represent.^[3][1]
6. (transitive) To be the image or symbol of something, or to imitate it perfectly.^[3][1]
7. (transitive) Of a person: to look a certain age.^[3]
8. (transitive) To make up, amount to: Las exportaciones representan un tercio del total.^[1]
9. (intransitive) To matter much or little to someone.^[3]

Word family

• representable
• representación
• representante
• representativo
• sobrerrepresentar

Related words

• representador
• presentar
• presente
• Latin repraesentō
• French représenter

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. representar
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. representar
4. ^ 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. representar
5. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. representar
6. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 213
7. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ser
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. représenter
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. repraesentō
10. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 605
11. ^ 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. representar
12. ^ 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. representar
13. ^ 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
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 584
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 754
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 865
17. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. representar
18. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. representar
19. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 408
20. ^ 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. representar
21. ^ Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 205
22. ^ 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