superar

Forms

superar (first-person singular present supero, first-person singular preterite superé, past participle superado)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned borrowing, borrowed from Latin superāre (“to rise above, surpass, overcome”).^[2][1][3] Corominas lists it among the learned words of the family of sobre and dates it to the early 17th century, with Oudin, Jáuregui and the Diccionario de Autoridades as his first sources.^[4][5] Covarrubias and Percyvall still lack it.^[4][5] The CDH has clearly Spanish examples a century earlier, from 1517 on; its earlier hits are Latin passages and a late-14th-century poem of the Arcediano de Toro known from a 15th-century copy.^[6]

The same Latin verb gave the inherited sobrar “to be left over, be in excess”, first found in Berceo, which kept a sense of the verb already found in Late Latin.^[4][7][1] Catalan sobrar, Portuguese sobrar and Old Occitan sobrar continue it too, and Romanian supăra has come to mean “to annoy”.^[8] Bénaben describes the Spanish verb as the learned treatment of the Latin one, beside the popular form.^[9]

The Latin verb is formed on superus (“upper, situated above”), from super (“over, above”).^[10][1] De Vaan derives the preposition from *super and *(h₁)uper(i) (“over, above”), the source also of for- (“over, beyond”).^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

In 1517 Torres Naharro writes of conquests in the Indies that con su gente ha superado yslas “with his people he has overcome islands”, and in the following decades the verb appears in Las Casas, Fernández de Oviedo and the military treatise of Diego de Salazar, mostly in the sense “to defeat, get the better of”: fue superada “was overcome”, of a cavalry beaten by the enemy's.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The Diccionario de Autoridades (1739) defined it as “to surpass or defeat” and quoted Jáuregui's translation of Lucan.^[12] The Academy kept that short definition through the 19th century, and Domínguez in 1846 added “to exceed, to excel” and a pronominal use.^[13][14][15] Today the verb also means to overcome an obstacle or difficulty, to go beyond a limit, to leave something behind, and, as superarse, to do better than one has done before.^[2][16] The Léxico hispanoamericano has it from 1697 in Mexico City, where estates were burdened “exceeding their valuations”.^[17]

Timeline

• 1517 – first Spanish record in the CDH, in Torres Naharro's romances.^[6]
• 1535–1557 – Fernández de Oviedo writes that the Spaniards fueron superados by greater numbers.^[6]
• early 17th century – the first dated record Corominas gives, in Oudin and Jáuregui.^[4]
• 1697 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico City.^[17]
• 1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades enters it as “to surpass or defeat”, from Latin superare.^[12]
• 1739 – superávit, the Latin perfect “it has been left over”, is first recorded.^[5]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology “Del lat. superare”.^[18]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be superior to someone, to surpass or outdo them: Su hermana lo supera en paciencia.^[2][1]
2. To overcome an obstacle or difficulty: Superó la enfermedad en pocos meses.^[2][1]
3. To exceed a limit or amount (also pronominal): El precio supera los mil euros.^[2][16]
4. To leave behind, overtake or get over: Hay que superar esa vieja disputa.^[2][1]
5. (pronominal) To outdo oneself, to do something better than on other occasions.^[2][16]

Word family

• superación
• superador
• superable
• superávit

Related words

• sobrar
• sobre
• superior
• Latin superō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. superar
3. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. superar
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 277
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sobre
6. ^ 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, p. s.v. superar
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. superare
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. superare
9. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. superar
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. superō
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 185
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 820
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 728
15. ^ Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 2, 1596
16. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. superar
17. ^ 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. superar
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 935