retirar

Forms

retirar (first-person singular present retiro, first-person singular preterite retiré, past participle retirado)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish re- + tirar, with the prefix in the sense “back”: “to draw back”.^[2][1][3][4] Wiktionary calls it a cognate of the English word retire.^[1]

The base verb is common to the western Romance languages and of uncertain origin.^[5] Corominas finds a Germanic verb meaning “to tear” very doubtful, and thinks it probable that the verb arose in the jargon of the Roman army from the Parthians' name for the arrow, as in all the Iranian dialects.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DEMel lists a single record in Alfonso X's General estoria (c. 1275).^[6] The earliest hit in the CDH is the Traducción de Lanzarote del Lago (c. 1414), where knights in a tournament les fazian retirar “made them draw back”.^[7] The pronominal use appears in the Seguro de Tordesillas (1439): after the meal the prince se retiró “withdrew” to the Count's chamber.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Corominas dates the verb to 1570, in Cristóbal de las Casas, and finds it frequent in the Quijote; its derivatives retirada and retiro are of the early 17th century.^[5][3] Covarrubias in 1611 defines it as going back in good order, and records persona retirada “one who has withdrawn from the world” and retirarse de los oficios “to give up office to live a quiet private life”.^[8] The Diccionario de Autoridades has the senses “to move one thing away from another or from a place”, “to put out of sight, keeping or hiding it” and “to force someone back”.^[9]

The Academy's 1884 edition added the printers' sense and an old intransitive use, “to resemble”, as tirar was used.^[4] Modern senses include taking back one's words, withdrawing something one used to give, going to bed or home, and leaving a competition or job; a soldier or civil servant se retira when he passes into retirement.^[10] In Latin America it is also colloquial for “to remove”, and the reflexive is the usual word for “to retire”.^[1] In the Americas Boyd-Bowman's first record is from Yucatán, 1560: the Indians hicieron retirar a los españoles “made the Spaniards fall back”.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1275 – a single record in Alfonso X's General estoria.^[6]
• c. 1414 – the Traducción de Lanzarote del Lago has fazer retirar “to make draw back”.^[7]
• 1439 – the Seguro de Tordesillas uses retirarse “to withdraw (to a room)”.^[7]
• 1560 – the first record from the Americas, in Yucatán.^[11]
• 1570 – Corominas's date, from Cristóbal de las Casas.^[5][3]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as going back in good order.^[8]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades gives the senses “to move away”, “to put out of sight” and “to force back”.^[9]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology re- + tirar and the printing sense.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, also reflexive) To move someone or something away from another person, thing or place; to withdraw.^[10][1]
2. (transitive) To take something out of sight, keeping or hiding it.^[10]
3. (transitive) To force someone back; to repel.^[10]
4. (transitive) To take back what one has said, to retract: Retiro todo lo que dije ayer.^[10]
5. (transitive) To stop giving something: El banco le retiró el crédito.^[10]
6. (intransitive) To resemble (tirar).^[10]
7. (reflexive) To withdraw from someone's company or friendship.^[10]
8. (reflexive) To go to bed; to go home.^[10]
9. (reflexive) Of an army, to leave the field of battle, to retreat.^[10][1]
10. (reflexive) To give up a job, a competition or an undertaking; to take refuge.^[10]
11. (reflexive) Of a soldier, civil servant and so on, to retire.^[10][1]
12. (chiefly Latin America, colloquial) To remove.^[1]

Word family

• retirada
• retiro
• retirado

Related words

• tirar
• estirar
• English retire

Usage notes

The DLE has a separate verb retirar in printing, formed from re- and tirar “to print”: to print the reverse of a sheet already printed on the front.^[12] The Academy's 1884 edition already lists this sense.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. retirar
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. tirar
4. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 930
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 505
6. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock
7. ^ 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
8. ^ 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. 1263
9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 604
10. ^ 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. retirar
11. ^ 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
12. ^ 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. retirar2