reservar

Forms

reservar (first-person singular present reservo, first-person singular preterite reservé, past participle reservado)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin reservō (“to keep back, keep for later”), a learned word.^[2][3][1][4] Corominas treats it among the Latin borrowings of the family of conservar, beside preservar and observar, and dates it 1444, but the corpus has it in legal documents from 1329 on.^[2][5]

The Latin verb is formed from re- (“back”) and servō (“to watch over, keep, preserve”).^[6][1][7] The same Latin verb is Portuguese reservar, Galician reservar, Catalan reservar, French réserver, Italian riservare and Romanian rezerva.^[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest hit in the corpus, of 1208, is in a Latin text.^[5] DEMel lists the form reseruo in a Leonese document of 1291.^[9] The first Castilian hits are legal: a letter of 1329, reseruamos en nos “we reserve to ourselves”, and a sentence of 1331 in which a judge reserves to himself the assessment of the costs, reservo la taxaçion dellas en mi.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed long in legal and church language: the Libro de buen amor (1330–1343, in a copy of about 1415) speaks of the sins reservados to the Pope.^[5] Covarrubias in 1611 glosses it “to exempt, to leave something out of the reckoning and keep it for oneself”, with reserva and reservación.^[10] Autoridades in 1737 lists keeping for later, putting off, exempting from a law, keeping back part of what is shared out and withholding.^[11] The Academy's 1884 edition adds “to conceal, keep silent about”.^[12]

Modern senses include setting aside a place or thing for a particular use or person, and hence booking seats or a table; the noun reserva is recorded from 1633.^[3][13][2] The DLE also keeps a liturgical sense, putting away the exposed Blessed Sacrament, and an obsolete one, pensioning off servants of the royal household.^[3]

Timeline

• 1291 – DEMel's first primary record, reseruo, in a Leonese document.^[9]
• 1329 – a letter of resolution: reseruamos en nos.^[5]
• 1330–1343 – the Libro de buen amor mentions sins reservados to the Pope.^[5]
• 1444 – the BDELC's date of first record.^[2]
• 1497 – first record in the Old Spanish Textual Archive.^[14]
• 1611 – Covarrubias glosses it “to exempt; to keep for oneself”.^[10]
• 1633 – the noun reserva is first recorded.^[2]
• 1737 – Autoridades lists five senses, from keeping for later to withholding.^[11]
• 1884 – the Academy adds “to conceal, keep silent”.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To keep or save something for the future: Reservé un poco de tarta para mañana.^[3][1]
2. (transitive) To postpone, to put off doing or telling something; also reflexive.^[3][1]
3. (transitive) To set aside a place or thing for a particular use or person; to book: Reservamos una mesa para cuatro.^[3][13][1]
4. (transitive) To exempt from a common law.^[3][1]
5. (transitive) To keep back part of what is shared out, for oneself or for someone else; also reflexive.^[3]
6. (transitive) To withhold, not to disclose something or the knowledge or exercise of it.^[3]
7. (transitive) To conceal, keep quiet about something.^[3][1]
8. (transitive, card games) To keep back certain cards that one is not obliged to play.^[3]
9. (transitive, Christianity) To put away the exposed Blessed Sacrament (Santísimo).^[3]
10. (transitive, obsolete) To pension off, especially servants of the royal household.^[3]
11. (reflexive) To hold oneself back for a better occasion: Corrió despacio al principio para reservarse para el final.^[3][13][1]
12. (reflexive) To be wary of someone, to be on one's guard.^[3]

Word family

• reserva
• reservado
• reservación

Related words

• conservar
• preservar
• observar
• Latin reservō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. conservar
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. reservar
4. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. reservar
5. ^ 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. reservar
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. reservo
7. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. reservar
8. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. reservar
9. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. reservar
10. ^ 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. 1260
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 592
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 926
13. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. reservar
14. ^ Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org, p. s.v. reservar