temblar

Forms

temblar (first-person singular present tiemblo, first-person singular preterite temblé, past participle temblado)^[1] Old Spanish had tembrar beside temblar, and the etymological tremblar in the Aragonese Liber regum;^[2] tembrar is still usual in many Leonese dialects.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish tembrar, inherited from Vulgar Latin tremulāre (“to tremble”), a verb formed from tremulus (“trembling”), itself from tremō (“to tremble”).^[2][3][4][1] Wiktionary notes that the Latin verb is attested in a seventh-century manuscript.^[1] De Vaan derives the Latin verb from Proto-Indo-European *trem- (“to tremble”), the root of Ancient Greek τρέμω (trémō, “I tremble”).^[5]

The same Latin verb is French trembler, Occitan tremblar, Catalan tremolar and Italian tremolare.^[6][7][1]

The first ⟨r⟩ was lost by dissimilation in an older trembrar, which gave the attested form with ⟨tem-⟩.^[2][3][8] Corominas explains that in an early period the common people of Castile, as of León, Portugal and Galicia, changed every ⟨l⟩ after a consonant into ⟨r⟩.^[2] The dissimilation took place then, and when speakers later restored the ⟨l⟩ the original first ⟨r⟩ had been forgotten, which gave the modern form.^[2] He rejects Ascoli's idea of a dissimilation before the final ⟨r⟩ of the infinitive, and the crossing with temer that Ascoli and Meyer-Lübke preferred.^[2] The variant tremolar “to wave (a flag)”, from about 1580, is from Italian.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140) has the form tembrar: Tembrar querié la tierra “the earth was about to shake” (v. 3619).^[2][9] Berceo's Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos (c. 1236, in a copy of the late 13th century) has temblar of fear: tenblavan muchas barbas de cabeças fardidas “many beards of bold men trembled”.^[2][10] The BDELC dates temblar to 1220–50.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Shaking from cold, fear or an earthquake are all medieval: in the Libro de Alexandre a wall trembles as it is undermined, and in Juan Ruiz drink makes the limbs tremble.^[10][2] The verb has been in general use in every period, and has at times become transitive with the sense “to fear”, as in the Guzmán de Alfarache.^[2]

Covarrubias (1611) took it from Latin tremo and noted that it is usually a sign of fear.^[11] Autoridades gives three senses, to move restlessly, of the earth to quake, and to be very afraid, and notes the irregular tiemblo, tiemblas, tiembla.^[12] In Guatemala and El Salvador the impersonal tiembla means there is an earthquake.^[13]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – tembrar in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[2][3]
• 1194–1211 – the etymological tremblar in the Aragonese Liber regum.^[2][9]
• c. 1236 – temblar in Berceo's Vida de Santo Domingo.^[2][10]
• 1220–1250 – the BDELC's date for temblar and for the noun temblor.^[3]
• 1532 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico.^[14]
• c. 1580 – the Italian loan tremolar.^[3]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from Latin tremo.^[11]
• 1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records its three senses.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To tremble, shake or shiver with small, quick, frequent movements: Le temblaban las manos de frío.^[4][1]
2. To be very afraid, or to dread someone or something (also transitive).^[4][15]
3. Of the earth: to quake in an earthquake.^[4]
4. (Guatemala, El Salvador, impersonal) To have an earthquake.^[13]

Word family

• tembladera
• tembleque
• temblón
• temblor
• retemblar
• tembloso

Related words

• temblante
• tembloroso
• tremolar
• trémulo
• estremecer
• Latin tremulus

Usage notes

Temblar changes stressed e to ie: tiemblo, tiemblas, but temblamos.^[12][16][1] The colloquial gerund temblando means “about to run out, be finished”: dejar la botella temblando.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 454
3. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. temblar
4. ^ a b c d e 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. temblar
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. trembler
7. ^ 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. 8, 740
8. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. temblar
9. ^ a b Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando, p. 405
10. ^ 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. temblar
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. 1323
12. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 238
13. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. temblar
14. ^ 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. temblar
15. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. temblar
16. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 3, 600