transformar

Forms

transformar (first-person singular present transformo, first-person singular preterite transformé, past participle transformado)^[1] Nebrija has the form without ⟨n⟩, trasformar, and the Academy's dictionaries of 1843 and 1846 refer transformar to it;^[2][3][4] Moliner still lists trasformar as a less frequent variant.^[5][2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin trānsfōrmō (“to change in shape, transform”), a learned word first found in Berceo in the 13th century.^[5][6][7][1] The verb is formed from Latin trāns- (“across, beyond”) + fōrmō (“to shape, form”),^[8][1] and its second part is the verb of fōrma (“form, shape”), the source of Spanish formar.^[9][7] Corominas treats it in his article on the noun.^[5]

The same Latin verb was borrowed as Portuguese transformar in the 14th century,^[10] as Catalan transformar^[11] and as French transformer, a learned remodelling of about 1300 of the older Old French tresformer.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Berceo's Milagros de Nuestra Señora (dated 1246–1252 in the CDH, known from an 18th-century copy) tells how the devil took the shape of an angel: Transformóse el falso en ángel verdadero “the false one turned himself into a true angel”.^[13][14] The word is reflexive there, “to change one's shape”.^[13]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century the Calila e Dimna has la rata transformada en niña “the rat changed into a girl”,^[13] and Alfonso X's General Estoria uses the verb both for changing the form of a person or thing and for changing someone's conduct or habits.^[15] The verb remained a word of learned and poetic texts in the 15th century, in the cancioneros and in Villena's version of the Aeneid.^[13]

The Diccionario de Autoridades adds a sense from the language of love and mysticism: to enter so far into someone's affection that one seems turned into the beloved.^[16] Terreros gives the figurative sense of a person changing appearance so as not to be recognised.^[17] The Academy defined the reflexive as “to change one's bearing or habits” in 1869,^[18] and in 1899 it split the senses into changing the form of a person or thing, turning one thing into another, and changing someone's bearing or habits.^[19] The DLE adds a sports sense, scoring from a free kick or penalty in rugby, basketball or football, and the electrical sense of changing the voltage of a current.^[20] Moliner notes its frequent use for the processing of raw materials in industry.^[4]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – Berceo has the verb in the Milagros de Nuestra Señora.^[6][5]
• 1251 – the Calila e Dimna (in a later copy) has the participle transformada.^[13]
• 1272–1275 – the first part of Alfonso X's General Estoria uses it for changing the form of a person or thing.^[15]
• 1280 – the fourth part of the General Estoria uses it for changing someone's conduct.^[15]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija's Vocabulario has trasformar for Latin transformo, and the noun trasformación.^[21][5]
• 1843 – the Academy refers transformar to the form trasformar.^[2]
• 1869 – transformar has its own definitions in the Academy's dictionary again.^[18]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology, from Latin transformare.^[22]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, also reflexive) To change the shape or appearance of someone or something, transform: Las obras transformaron por completo el viejo mercado.^[20][1]
2. (transitive, also reflexive) To turn one thing into another, transmute: El hada transformó al gato en cochero.^[20][4]
3. (transitive, also reflexive) To change someone's bearing or habits: Aquellos años en el extranjero la transformaron.^[20]
4. (sports) In rugby, basketball or football, to score from a free kick, penalty or free throw; in rugby, to convert a try.^[20][4]
5. (electricity) To change the voltage of an electric current with a transformador.^[20]

Word family

• transformación
• transformador
• transformable
• transformista
• transformismo

Related words

• forma
• formar
• reformar
• conformar
• Latin trānsfōrmō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 712
3. ^ a b Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 1067
4. ^ a b c d e Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. transformar
5. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 932
6. ^ a b Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 275
7. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. transformar
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 694
10. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 3347
11. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. transformar
12. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
13. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. transformar
14. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. transformar
15. ^ 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. transformar
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 325
17. ^ 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, 684
18. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 759
19. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 976
20. ^ a b c d e f 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. transformar
21. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. transformar
22. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 1042