resistir

Forms

resistir (first-person singular present resisto, first-person singular preterite resistí, past participle resistido)^[1] The older form registir is in the CDH's texts of 1251 and 1344 and in Pero Tafur (c. 1440).^[2][3] Texts from the Americas of the early 16th century also have resestir.^[4]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin resistō (“to halt; to stand firm, resist”).^[5][6][1] The Latin source is itself formed from Latin re- (“back”) + sistō (“to cause to stand, set up”).^[1][7][8] Bénaben explains the prefix as both intensive and expressing opposition, and the base as a reduplicated form of stō (“to stand”).^[9] Corominas treats it in the article on existir, with asistir, consistir, desistir, insistir and persistir, other learned borrowings of compounds of the same verb.^[3]

The Latin base continues Proto-Italic *s(t)i-sta/o- and *sti-sth₂- (“to make stand”), a reduplicated present.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record in the CDH is Calila e Dimna (1251, in a copy of the late 14th or early 15th century), with the form registir.^[2] The first text with no later copy is the Crónica de 1344: non podiendo ellos Registir demandaron ayuda alos godos “being unable to resist, they asked the Goths for help”.^[2] The BDELC dates the word 1438, and the DCECH gives registir in Pero Tafur (c. 1440) and resistir in the Corbacho and Alonso de Palencia.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

Latin resistere meant at first “to stop, stay behind” and then “to stand firm, oppose”.^[7][11] Covarrubias in 1611 defines it as “to make opposition”.^[12] The Autoridades has “to oppose the action or force of something and defend oneself from it”, “to be repugnant to, to contradict”, “to repel” and “to bear, endure”.^[13] Terreros adds “to last”.^[14] The Academy recorded the reflexive in the sense “to struggle” in 1843.^[15] Today the DLE also gives “to survive” of people and animals, “to go on working” of things, and the reflexive “to be hard to understand or to do”: este problema se me resiste.^[6]

Timeline

• 1251 – Calila e Dimna, in a later copy, has registir.^[2]
• 1300–1305 – the Libro del cavallero Cifar, in a copy of the late 15th century, has resistir.^[2]
• 1344 – the Crónica de 1344 has Registir.^[2]
• c. 1350 – Leomarte's Sumas de la historia troyana has rresistyr.^[2]
• 1438 – first record in the BDELC.^[5]
• c. 1440 – Pero Tafur still writes registir.^[3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija's Vocabulario gives Latin obsisto, resisto and repugno.^[16]
• 1515 – the first record from the Americas, in Tierra Firme.^[4]
• c. 1525 – first record of resistencia.^[5]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as “to make opposition”.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To tolerate, to bear or endure: No resisto este calor.^[6][1]
2. To fight against passions or desires; also reflexive: Resistió la tentación de llamarla.^[6]
3. (intransitive; also transitive and reflexive) Of a body or force: to withstand the action or violence of another.^[6]
4. (intransitive) Of a person or animal: to survive, to live on.^[6]
5. (intransitive) Of a thing: to last, to go on working: Esta lavadora todavía resiste.^[6]
6. (intransitive) To oppose, reject, contradict.^[6]
7. (reflexive) Of a person: to resist strongly: Se resistió a firmar.^[6]
8. (reflexive) Of a thing: to be hard to understand, handle or achieve: La física se me resiste.^[6]

Word family

• resistente
• irresistible
• resistencia

Related words

• existir
• asistir
• insistir
• persistir
• Latin resistō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. resistir
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 824
4. ^ a b 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. resestir
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. resistir
6. ^ 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. resistir
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 608
9. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. resistir
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 659
12. ^ 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. 1261
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 594
14. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 3, 356
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 632
16. ^ 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. resistir