temer

Forms

temer (first-person singular present temo, first-person singular preterite temí, past participle temido)^[1] Old Spanish often had the future and conditional tembré, tembría, as Catalan did.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish temer, inherited from Latin timeō (“I fear”).^[3][4][1] Corominas notes that the verb is frequent from the earliest texts and is common to all the Romance languages except French.^[3] The same Latin verb is Portuguese temer, Galician temer, Asturian temer, Catalan témer, Italian temere and Romanian teme.^[5][2][1] Medieval Catalan used the infinitive tembre more often than the modern form.^[2]

The origin of the Latin verb is unclear.^[6][7][1] De Vaan considers a link with words meaning “stiff” hardly possible, given the modern reconstruction of that root.^[6] Wiktionary mentions a link with Proto-Indo-European *temH- (“dark”), which fits the meaning but not the sounds, and compares Sanskrit तिम्यति (timyati, “to become quiet”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy), of a hill above Montreal: alto es el poyo, maravilloso e grant, non teme guerra, sabet, a nulla part “the hill is high, wondrous and great, it fears war from no side, know it”.^[8][3] The Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250) is the earliest text with the word that survives in a contemporary copy.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Old Spanish already used the verb for fearing a person or a danger, and Berceo has the pronominal temerse de “to fear (something)”, as in Catalan.^[3] In Alfonso X's Lapidario it also means “to hold in awe”: the bearer of a certain stone is loved and feared by all who see him.^[9] Covarrubias in 1611 glossed it as “to have fear or dread”.^[10] In 1739 the Diccionario de Autoridades distinguished four senses: to fear something; to feel reverent fear and respect, as a son for his father or a vassal for his king; to suspect or presume; and to fear a harm on earlier grounds.^[11] Terreros added that it is said of inanimate things too, as when almond trees “fear” the frost.^[12]

The Academy admitted the intransitive use (“to feel fear”) in its 1884 edition, not yet in 1843.^[3][13] In Argentina and Colombia the construction le temo a… is common, with le as a dative.^[3] The old phrase ni teme ni debe, for a reckless person who acts without prudence or respect, became no temer ni deber in the 1884 dictionary and is now marked colloquial.^[14][13][4]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has the first record.^[8][3]
• 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes, the first record in a contemporary copy.^[8]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for the awe a stone's bearer inspires.^[9]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin timeo, metuo and formido as its equivalents.^[15]
• 1527 – the first record from the Americas, in a will made in Mexico City.^[16]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from Latin timeo.^[10]
• 1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the senses “to revere” and “to suspect”.^[11]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology and admits the intransitive use.^[13][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fear, to be afraid of someone or something: Los pastores temen al lobo.^[4][1]
2. To dread a harm because of earlier signs: Temo que habrá más despidos.^[4]
3. (also pronominal) To suspect or think (something unwelcome): Me temo que el tren saldrá sin nosotros.^[4][17]
4. (intransitive) To feel fear, to be anxious, often with por: Temía por su hermano.^[4]

Word family

• temor
• temible
• temeroso
• temedor
• temerón
• atemorizar

Related words

• tímido
• timorato
• intimidar
• Latin timeō
• Portuguese temer

Usage notes

In Argentina and Colombia the person or thing feared often takes le and a (le temo a…).^[3] The colloquial phrase no temer ni deber means to act recklessly, without prudence or regard for others.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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, 382
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 456
4. ^ 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. temer
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 6701
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. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ 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. temer
9. ^ 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. temer
10. ^ 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. 1, 1323
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 239
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 1014
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 693
15. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 421
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. temer
17. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. temer