validar

Forms

validar (first-person singular present valido, first-person singular preterite validé, past participle validado)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin validō (“to strengthen”), a Late Latin verb.^[2][3][1] DICCA-XV instead treats it as a Spanish derivative of válido.^[4] The Latin verb is formed from validus (“strong, vigorous”), itself from valeō (“to be strong, be healthy, be worth”).^[1] In Medieval Latin it meant “to reinforce, restore” and “to make valid”.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first certain record in the CDH is in the Ordenanzas de los pelares de Cuenca (c. 1400), where the old ordinances are confirmed, approved and validando “made valid”.^[7] Earlier hits under the same lemma are forms of the adjective válido and of valer.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The verb started in legal language, of documents, powers and contracts;^[8] Terreros in the 1780s speaks of making an instrument, account or contract valid.^[8] A 1584 text from Lima has aprobado e balidado el dicho poder.^[9] Autoridades defines it in 1739 as giving force or firmness to something, the definition the DLE still uses.^[10][2] In Colombia it is used of passing an examination that recognises studies, as in validar la primaria.^[9] Medicine uses it for showing that a method or procedure is valid.^[11] Judeo-Spanish has the verb in the sense “to make valid”.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – first record, in the Ordenanzas de los pelares de Cuenca.^[7]
• 1432 – first record in DICCA-XV.^[4]
• 1584 – first record from the Americas, in Lima.^[9]
• 1739 – Autoridades defines it.^[10]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary first gives the etymology, from Latin validare.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To validate: to give force or firmness to something, to make it valid (válido): El notario validó las firmas.^[2][3][1]
2. (transitive) To check that something meets set conditions.^[14]
3. (medicine) To show that a method or procedure is valid or suitable.^[11]

Word family

• validación
• revalidar
• convalidar

Related words

• válido
• validez
• invalidar
• valer

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. validar
3. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. validar
4. ^ a b 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. validar
5. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. validare
6. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. 8, 238
7. ^ 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. validar
8. ^ a b 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, 752
9. ^ a b c 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. validar
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 416
11. ^ a b Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. validar
12. ^ Nehama, Joseph (1977), Dictionnaire du judéo-espagnol, Madrid: CSIC, p. s.v. validar
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 1070
14. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org