torcer

Forms

torcer (first-person singular present tuerzo, first-person singular preterite torcí, past participle torcido)^[1] The stressed /o/ becomes /we/ in some forms (tuerzo, tuerce, tuerza), which Autoridades already noted as an irregularity.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *torcere, from Latin torqueō (“to twist, turn”).^[4][5][6][1] Corominas notes that this Vulgar Latin form is not recorded: the labial element of the cluster /kʷ/ was probably lost in the forms of the Latin verb where a /j/ followed, such as the first person singular and the subjunctive.^[4]

The same Vulgar Latin verb is Portuguese torcer, Galician torcer, Aragonese torzer, Catalan tòrcer, Occitan tòrcer, French tordre, Italian torcere and Romanian toarce.^[7][8][1]

De Vaan traces the Latin verb to Proto-Italic *torkw-eie-, from Proto-Indo-European *torkʷ-éye- (“to twist”), and Wiktionary derives it from the root *terkʷ- (“to turn”).^[9][1] The OLD compares ἄτρακτος (átraktos, “spindle”) and drāhsil (“turner”).^[10] Bénaben and the DHLF call the further origin uncertain.^[11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas and the BDELC date the verb to Berceo (1220–1250).^[4][5] The CDH has it earlier in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy): la tuercen, “they twist it”, of the way of the humble.^[13][3] In Berceo's Vida de San Millán (c. 1230) the saint is praised because he never tuerce el rostro “turns his face away” when asked for something costly.^[13]

Semantic evolution

Old Spanish used the verb for twisting a thing on itself and for bending it: Alfonso X's falconry book (1250–1300) speaks of feathers that get twisted in the moult, and the Lapidario of a bent rod and a twisted head.^[14] The participle tuerto became an adjective “crooked” and a noun “wrong, injustice”, already in the Cid; from “of twisted sight” it came to mean “one-eyed”.^[4][5]

The Diccionario de Autoridades (1739) gave twisting, bending and turning off the road (tal camino tuerce a mano derecha).^[2] The 1884 edition added the figurative “to misinterpret”.^[15] In Cuba torcer is to roll cigars by hand, and in Mexico it is slang for catching someone in the act.^[16][17]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – tuercen in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (in a 13th-century copy).^[13][3]
• 1220–1250 – Berceo uses the verb; the BDELC's first date.^[4][5]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses tuerto for something bent.^[14]
• 1250–1300 – Alfonso X's falconry book uses it of twisted feathers.^[14]
• 1335 – first record of torcida “wick”.^[5]
• 1495 – first records of torcimiento and retorcer.^[5]
• 1541 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico (toldos torcidos).^[18]
• 1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades notes the irregular forms with ue.^[2]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary first gives the etymology, from Latin torquere.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, also reflexive) To twist something on itself so that it takes a spiral shape.^[6][1]
2. (transitive, also reflexive) To bend or curve something: El calor torció las vías.^[6][1]
3. (transitive) To turn something away from its usual position or direction, as the eyes.^[6]
4. (transitive) To screw up the face in displeasure: torcer el gesto.^[6][19]
5. (transitive, also reflexive) To sprain or wrench a limb.^[6][1]
6. (intransitive) To turn off a road to one side: Al llegar a la plaza, tuerce a la izquierda.^[6][1]
7. (figurative) To twist the meaning of words, or make someone change their mind.^[6][20]
8. (Cuba) To roll cigars (cigarros).^[16]

Word family

• torcedero
• torcedor
• torcedura
• torcida
• torcido
• torcijón
• torcimiento
• retorcer
• destorcer

Related words

• estorcer
• tormento
• torsión
• torta
• tortor
• tortura
• torzal
• torzón
• tuerto
• Latin torqueō
• Portuguese torcer
• Catalan tòrcer

Usage notes

Dar el brazo a torcer means “to give in”.^[1][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 299
3. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. torcer
4. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 553
5. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. torcer
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. torcer
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8798
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. torquere
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. torcer
12. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. tordre
13. ^ 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. torcer
14. ^ a b c 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. torcer
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 1034
16. ^ 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. torcer
17. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. s.v. torcer
18. ^ 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. torcer
19. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. torcer
20. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. torcer