Etymologically
Log in

votar

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Spanish word votar

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1399 Gower's Confesión del Amante, in Spanish More words from the 14th century
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *h₁wegʷʰ-

Pronunciation

  • /boˈtaɾ/, [boˈt̪aɾ][1]

Forms

votar (first-person singular present voto, first-person singular preterite voté, past participle votado)[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish voto + -ar, as Wiktionary and the Spanish Wiktionary have it, and Corominas lists it among the derivatives of the noun.[1][2][3][4] The DLE instead derives it from Medieval Latin votare, which Niermeyer glosses “to dedicate to a saint”.[5][6] The Academy's dictionary of 1884 derived it from the noun, and its 2001 edition, like Alemany in 1917, gave the Latin verb.[7][8][9]

The noun is taken from Latin votum (“vow, prayer, wish”), from voveo (“to vow”).[3][4] Corominas names boda “wedding” as its popular doublet.[3] The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₁wogʷʰéyeti (“to promise”), an iterative of *h₁wegʷʰ- (“to promise; to praise”).[10][11]

The Medieval Latin verb continues as Italian votare, French vouer and Old Occitan vodar.[12] Corresponding verbs are Catalan votar and French voter.[13][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is of 1399, the participle in notas botadas, spelt with ⟨b⟩, in the Spanish version of Gower's Confesión del Amante.[3][4] About 1495 Nebrija has both main senses: votar, hazer voto, with Latin voveo, and votar, dar el voto, with Latin suffragor.[15][16]

Semantic evolution

The noun voto was at first purely religious, and only slowly took on the sense of an opinion given in an assembly.[3] The Diccionario de Autoridades gives the verb three senses: to make a vow to God or the saints, to give one's vote, and to vow to keep a feast or defend a mystery of the faith.[17] In 1817 the Academy added “to swear, to blaspheme”.[18]

Oaths of the type voto a Dios and voto a tal are recorded in the Americas from 1545 and 1568.[19] The Academy listed ¡voto a tal! as a colloquial exclamation in 1899;[20][21] Moliner calls these exclamations of anger, threat or surprise obsolete, and notes the euphemisms voto a tal and voto a brios for the name of God or the devil.[20][21]

The political sense is now the usual one: to cast a vote in an election or a meeting, and, transitively, to approve something by vote.[5][22] In Panama, Ecuador and Bolivia votar en plancha means to vote for a party's whole list.[23]

Timeline

  • 1399 – the participle botadas in the Spanish version of Gower's Confesión del Amante.[3][4]
  • c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin voveo “to vow” and suffragor “to vote” for the verb.[15][16]
  • 1545 – first record in the Americas, the oath voto a Dios in Yucatán.[19]
  • 1561 – the councillors of La Paz votaron en sus papeles doblados “voted on folded papers”.[19]
  • 1591 – Percyvall translates it “to vow”.[24]
  • 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades has the senses “to vow” and “to give one's vote”.[17]
  • 1817 – the Academy records the sense “to swear, to blaspheme”.[18]
  • 1899 – the Academy lists the exclamation ¡voto a tal!.[20]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To vote: to cast one's vote or give one's opinion in a meeting, a deliberative body or an election; also transitive: Mañana votamos al nuevo presidente del club.[5][1]
  2. To make a vow to God or the saints; also transitive, to vow something to them.[5][21]
  3. To swear, to utter oaths or curses.[5][21]
  4. To approve by vote: El pleno votó el presupuesto anual.[5][22]

Word family

  • votación
  • votante
  • votador
  • voto
  • devoto
  • boda
  • exvoto
  • Latin votum

Usage notes

In Latin America votar is also a spelling of botar “to throw”.[1] The historical dictionary of Canarian Spanish records it in this sense from 1800: me voy a votar a el agua “I am going to throw myself into the water”.[25] The exclamation ¡voto a tal! expressed threat, anger, surprise or admiration.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. votar
  3. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 845
  4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. voto
  5. ^ 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. votar
  6. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. votare
  7. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 1099
  8. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. votar
  9. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1673
  10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  11. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. voveo
  12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. votare
  13. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 739
  14. ^ Barcia, Roque (1880–1883), Primer diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Tipográfico de Álvarez Hermanos, p. 568
  15. ^ 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. votar
  16. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 431
  17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 523
  18. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 900
  19. ^ 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. votar
  20. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 1029
  21. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. votar
  22. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. votar
  23. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. votar
  24. ^ Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 231
  25. ^ Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. votar
Cite this entry

“Votar.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/votar. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·