romper

Forms

romper (first-person singular present rompo, first-person singular preterite rompí, past participle roto)^[1] Old Spanish also wrote ronper, rromper and runper.^[2] Beside the irregular past participle roto, the older language also used rompido.^[3][2][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin rumpō (“to burst, break”), already romper in the oldest texts.^[5][6][3][1] The word has been in general use in every period, and is common to all the Romance languages: Portuguese romper, Catalan rompre, French rompre and Italian rompere.^[5][7][8] The irregular participle roto continues Latin ruptus, as Covarrubias already saw.^[9]

The Latin verb is a nasal-infix present: de Vaan reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *Hru-n-p- (“to break”), beside an aorist *Hreup-.^[10] Its cognates include Old English rēofan (“to break, tear”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) has „ronpien las camisas e las carnes a ellas” “they tore their shirts and their flesh”.^[11][5][6] In the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200) Reuben ronpio sos vestidos “rent his clothes” when he did not find Joseph in the cistern.^[12]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose of the 13th century has the verb for tearing cloth and of clothes worn out (pannos rotos).^[13] Covarrubias in 1611 listed romper las treguas “to break a truce” and romper por la gente “to force one's way through a crowd”, and called fields newly cleared for sowing arrompidos.^[9] In the Americas the verb is recorded from 1524, in Santo Domingo, and was soon used for opening a way through the forest (romper el arcabuco, Mexico, 1532).^[4]

The participle roto came to mean a ragged person at the beginning of the 17th century and a man of loose habits by 1603; from it come the Chilean roto “poor man of the people” and the Argentine and Chilean rotoso.^[5][6] Regional senses in the Americas include “to beat someone up” (Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Bolivia), “to annoy” (Argentina, Uruguay) and “to have a breakdown on the road” (Uruguay).^[14] In colloquial Latin American Spanish romperla means “to do something brilliantly”.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has ronpien.^[11][5][6]
• c. 1200 – the Fazienda de Ultra Mar has ronpio sos vestidos.^[12]
• 1218–1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes, the earliest text in the CDH that survives in a contemporary copy, has the participle rota.^[12]
• c. 1250 – first record of the derivative rotura.^[6]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it of a substance that eats through linen and wool.^[13]
• 1495 – Nebrija records rompimiento.^[6]
• 1524 – first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo, with the participle ronpido.^[4]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from Latin rumpo.^[9]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology rumpere.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. To break: to separate the parts of a whole more or less violently; also reflexive: Se rompió la cuerda.^[3][1]
2. To break into pieces, smash.^[3]
3. To wear out or tear, especially clothes: Ya ha roto los zapatos.^[3][16]
4. To make an opening in a body, or cause one by wounding it.^[3]
5. To plough land for the first time; the same as roturar.^[3]
6. To cross a boundary or limit.^[3]
7. To cleave a fluid for a moment in passing through it, as a ship the water.^[3]
8. To interrupt something immaterial: romper la calma de la noche.^[3]
9. Of a star or light, to break through what hid it: La luna rompió entre las nubes.^[3]
10. To open a way through a crowd or an obstacle.^[3][9]
11. Of a group, to break ranks.^[3]
12. To interrupt a speaker or cut short a conversation.^[3]
13. To violate a law, rule, contract or other obligation.^[3]
14. To rout a body of armed men.^[3]
15. To break off a relationship or friendship: Rompió con su socio.^[1]
16. (with a and an infinitive) To burst out, begin suddenly: romper a llorar.^[1]

Word family

• rompedor
• rompiente
• rompimiento
• rotura
• roturar
• rompecabezas
• rompehielos
• rompehuelgas
• rompeolas

Related words

• arromper
• corromper
• derromper
• interromper
• ruptura
• ruta
• Latin rumpo

Usage notes

The DLE has a second, unrelated romper, a masculine noun of fencing: a move backwards from the guard position, drawing back first the rear foot and then the front one.^[17] Set phrases include de rompe y rasga “bold and uninhibited” and romper por todo “to go ahead regardless”.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. romper
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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. romper
4. ^ a b c 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. romper
5. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 49
6. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. romper
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 5778
8. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 7, 432
9. ^ a b c d Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1270
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 424
12. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. romper
13. ^ 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. romper
14. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. romper
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 940
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 636
17. ^ 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. romper2