usar

Forms

usar (first-person singular present uso, first-person singular preterite usé, past participle usado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *usare (“to use”), a frequentative formed on ūsus (“used”), the past participle of ūtor (“to use”).^[2][3][4][5] Medieval Latin texts have usare for “to practise; to enjoy; to wear out”.^[6][7][1] The Academy's dictionaries from Autoridades to 1899 explained it instead as formed on the noun uso, and the DLE now gives no etymology.^[8][9][10]

The verb survives in all the western Romance languages: Portuguese usar, Galician usar, Catalan usar, Occitan usar, French user and Italian usare.^[11][12][2] Judeo-Spanish has Ladino uzar, with a voiced /z/.^[2]

The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Italic *oit- (“to use”); de Vaan accepts Tichy's suggestion that it meant “to fetch for oneself” and derives it, with a question mark, from *h₃eit- (“to take along”), which would make it cognate with Ancient Greek οἴσω (oísō, “I will fetch”).^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Auto de los Reyes Magos (c. 1180;^[14][15][2] Corominas dates it about 1200) has the past participle: „porque no la avemos usada ni en nostras vocas es falada” “because we have not used it and it is not spoken in our mouths”.^[14][15][2] In Berceo's Milagros a farmer „usaba la reia más que otra labor” “used the ploughshare more than any other work”.^[16]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose already has the main senses: “to make use of, enjoy”, “to do by habit”, “to exercise an office” and “to deal with, have dealings with”.^[17] The last, “to frequent, keep company”, is common in the Middle Ages, as in Juan Ruiz's do se usan los omes, puédense conoçer “where people meet, they can get to know one another”.^[2][18] Cervantes often construes it with de: usar de misericordia “to show mercy”.^[19]

The Academy marked “to deal with” and “to be accustomed” as old in 1817, and in 1843 it added the reflexive usarse “to be in fashion” and the proverb lo que se usa no se excusa “what is customary cannot be avoided”.^[20][21] The modern definition “to make something serve for a purpose” dates from the 1899 edition, and the DLE adds “to wear” for clothes and ornaments.^[9][10] Vox also gives “to use a person”, to exploit someone for one's own ends.^[22]

Timeline

• c. 1180 – the Auto de los Reyes Magos has usada.^[14][15]
• c. 1200 – Corominas's date for the same text, the first record in the DCECH.^[2][3]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for “to make use of” and “to do by habit”.^[17]
• 1518 – the first record from the Americas, in Tierra Firme.^[23]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades derives it from uso.^[8]
• 1786–1793 – Terreros gives French user and Italian usare as its equivalents.^[24]
• 1843 – the Academy's dictionary adds the reflexive “to be in fashion”.^[21]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary gives the modern definition “to make something serve for a purpose”.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To use, make something serve a purpose: ¿Puedo usar tu teléfono?^[10][1]
2. (transitive, law) To enjoy the use of something, whether or not one owns it.^[10][25]
3. (transitive) To do or practise something habitually.^[10]
4. (transitive) To wear a garment or ornament, habitually: Mi abuelo siempre usaba sombrero.^[10][1]
5. (transitive) To hold an office or practise a trade.^[10]
6. (intransitive, with de) To make use of: Usó de su autoridad para calmarlos.^[25]
7. To use a person, exploit someone.^[22]
8. (reflexive) To be in fashion: Ya no se usan esas corbatas.^[10][1]

Word family

• usanza
• usado
• desusado
• desuso

Related words

• uso
• abusar
• usual
• usuario
• usura
• útil
• Latin ūtor

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 724
3. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. uso
4. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. usar
5. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. usar
6. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. usare
7. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. s.v. usare
8. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 398
9. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 998
10. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. usar
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. usare
12. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. usare
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. ūtor
14. ^ 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. usar
15. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. usar
16. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 770
17. ^ 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. usar
18. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando, p. 422
19. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. 1131
20. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 873
21. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 727
22. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. usar
23. ^ 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. usar
24. ^ 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, 742
25. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. usar