retener

Forms

retener (first-person singular present retengo, first-person singular preterite retuve, past participle retenido)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish retener, inherited from Latin retineō (“to hold back, keep”).^[2][3][4] Wiktionary calls it a borrowing from Latin conjugated like tener, while Vox calls it a native word.^[1][4]

The same word is Portuguese reter and Galician reter, and retenir is found in old Aragonese texts.^[5]

The Latin verb is formed from re- (“back”) and teneō (“to hold”).^[6][1] De Vaan explains the simple verb as a stative present to Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch”).^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy): sent to collect tribute, the Campeador took great wealth and retovo d'ellos cuanto que fue algo “kept back of it whatever was of any worth”, which is why he was accused.^[8][2]

Semantic evolution

From the 13th century the verb also meant “to keep in memory”: Berceo's priest says the words of the Mass ca de cor las retiene “for he knows them by heart”, and Alfonso X's Lapidario speaks of a good memory pora retener what one learns.^[8][9] Navarrese charters of 1231 and 1232 use retenemos for what a lessor reserves for himself, and an Alfonsine astrological book has retenido “held prisoner”.^[8][9]

In 1737 the Diccionario de Autoridades defined it first as keeping back what should be handed to its owner, and recorded the senses “to keep a post on being promoted” and, of the king, “to suspend a papal bull”.^[10] The Academy's 1869 edition added the withholding of pay by court order and preventive arrest.^[11] The modern sense of withholding tax from a payment is in the current DLE.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has the preterite retovo “kept back”.^[8][2]
• c. 1230–1246 – Berceo uses it for knowing words by heart.^[8]
• 1231 – a charter of the abbot of Irache has retenemos “we reserve”.^[8]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for holding urine and for memory.^[9]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin detineo and retineo.^[12]
• 1515 – the first record from the Americas, in Tierra Firme, of lawsuits retenidos “held up”.^[13]
• 1737 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it.^[10]
• 1869 – the Academy's dictionary adds the withholding of pay and preventive arrest.^[11]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology, from Latin retinēre.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. To keep someone or something from leaving, moving or disappearing; to retain, detain: La lluvia nos retuvo en casa toda la tarde.^[3][1]
2. To keep in one's memory: No consigo retener tantas fechas.^[3][1]
3. To keep the post one held when moving to another.^[3]
4. To hold up or hinder the normal course of something.^[3]
5. To suspend the use of a rescript issued by the Church authorities.^[3]
6. To withhold all or part of someone's pay until a debt is settled, by order of a court or the authorities.^[3]
7. To deduct a tax debt from a payment.^[3]
8. To place in preventive custody, to arrest.^[3][1]
9. To hold back or repress a feeling, desire or passion; also reflexive, retenerse “to restrain oneself”.^[3][15]
10. (law) Of a higher court: to take over a case and exercise jurisdiction itself, excluding the lower court.^[3]

Word family

• retén
• retenedor
• retenimiento

Related words

• retención
• retenida
• retentivo
• tener
• detener
• Latin retineō

Usage notes

It is conjugated like tener: retengo, retuve, retendré.^[15][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. tener
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. retener
4. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. retener
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 5654
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ 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
9. ^ 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. retener
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 603
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 680
12. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 409
13. ^ 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. retener
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 929
15. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. retener