revocar

Forms

revocar (first-person singular present revoco, first-person singular preterite revoqué, past participle revocado)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin revocō (“to call back”), a learned word.^[2][3][1][4] In Latin it is formed from re- (“back”) and vocō (“to call”), which is a derivative of Latin vōx (“voice”).^[5][1][6] De Vaan traces the noun to Proto-Italic *wōkʷs and Proto-Indo-European *uōkʷ-s (“voice”).^[6]

The forms Galician revogar and Portuguese revogar, the Galician one recorded in old documents, are what Nascentes calls semi-learned.^[4][7] The same Latin verb is French révoquer, a learned refashioning of the 12th-century Old French revochier, and Italian revocare.^[8][1]

Corominas explains the builders' sense “to plaster a wall” as bringing the wall back to its first brightness.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Berceo the verb means “to call back”, in the phrase revocar los errados “to bring back those who have gone astray”.^[2][9] The Fueros de Aragón of 1247 already have the legal sense, things said in court that one cannot take back: non las puede omne reuocar.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense “to annul a grant, a sentence or a will” was the main one from the 13th century on: the Vidal Mayor and the Fuero General de Navarra use it of judgments, and Alfonso X's histories of a concession.^[9][10] Alfonso de Palencia wrote of restoring something to its first state.^[2] Covarrubias defined it as going back on what one had granted, as in revoking a will or a power of attorney.^[11]

The 1737 Autoridades added the sense “to plaster or paint the outside walls”, together with the noun revoque.^[12][2] The 1817 edition added “to dissuade” and “to make something go back”, and the 1899 edition the example of wind driving smoke back.^[13][14] The old sense “to call back” is now marked as disused.^[3] In Mexico the verb also means to fill gaps in a wall with mortar or bricks.^[15]

Timeline

• 1236–1246 – Berceo's Loores de Nuestra Señora (in an 18th-century copy) has the participle revocado.^[9]
• 1247 – the Fueros de Aragón use reuocar in a legal sense.^[9]
• 1284 – Alfonso X's Estoria de España uses it of revoking a concession.^[10]
• 1518 – first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[16]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it and gives irrevocable.^[11]
• 1737 – the Autoridades records the sense “to plaster the outside walls”.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology, from Latin revocare.^[17]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To revoke, annul: to cancel a grant, an order or a decision: El tribunal revocó la condena.^[3][1][18]
2. (transitive) To dissuade someone from a plan.^[3][18]
3. (transitive, also intransitive) To drive something back, as a draught does with smoke.^[3][18]
4. (transitive) To plaster or repaint the outside walls of a building, and by extension any wall surface: Este verano revocaremos la fachada.^[3][18]
5. (transitive, disused) To call back.^[3][18]

Word family

• revocación
• revocable
• irrevocable
• revocatorio
• revoque
• revoco

Related words

• voz
• invocar
• provocar
• Latin revocō
• Portuguese revogar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 845
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. revocar
4. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 5682
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. revogar
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. révoquer
9. ^ 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. revocar
10. ^ 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. revocar
11. ^ 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. 1264
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 613
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 763
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 874
15. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1959), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Porrúa, p. 941
16. ^ 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. revocar
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 933
18. ^ a b c d e Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. revocar