Latin pĕtĕre
Introduction
Let us look now at the last Latin verb that can translate as
‘to ask’, and the only one that has turned up with this meaning in Spanish, namely
the third conjugation verb petĕre.
Its regular root is pet‑ and its
principal parts are pĕtō,
pĕtĕre, pĕtīvī, pĕtītum. From this verb comes
patrimonial Spanish pedir /peˈ.d̪ir/ ‘to ask for, request’.
The t > d sound change is a sure
sign that this is a patrimonial word for all intervocalic Latin t’s became d’s in Old Spanish (cf. Part I, Chapter 10).
As we have seen before,
third conjugation Latin verbs had antepenultimate stress in the infinitive since
the ‑ĕre ending had a short, unstressed
ĕ vowel. Since this conjugation disappeared,
‑ĕre
verbs joined either the second conjugation of ‑ēre verbs and became second conjugation Spanish verbs, as quaerĕre did (cf. querer), or else they joined fourth conjugation ‑īre verbs to become third conjugation Spanish
verbs, as pĕtĕre
did (cf. pedir). The final ‑e was lost before the r, as it always did, and the ‑t‑ changed to ‑d‑ intervocalically (between vowels), also as expected, thus resulting
in Spanish pedir.
The meaning of pĕtĕre
suffered some changes as this word became Spanish pedir. The original Latin pĕtĕre
meant ‘to go to (a place)’ or ‘to aim at’. This is consistent with the meaning the
Proto-Indo-European root *pet-, which
meant ‘to rush; to fly’. A related meaning was added to this Latin word, namely
‘to seek, strive after’. Yet another related sense was added to this verb in
due course, namely ‘to desire’. Finally, this word also came to mean ‘to ask for,
beseech’. It is not hard to see the semantic links tying all these senses together:
go somewhere > aim at > desire > seek > beseech. This latter meaning
is the only one that has survived in Spanish.
Pedir is one of a small
class of verbs with an e > i
vocalic change in the stem for many of its forms. In other words, this word has
two alternate roots (allomorphs): ped‑
and pid‑ (cf. Part I, Chapter 5,
§5.4.3).
In the present tense of pedir we see that
the pid- root is used for all forms except
two, the nosotros and vosotros forms (1pl, and 2pl), for which
it uses ped- (cf. pido,
pides,
pide,
pedimos,
pedís,
piden).
For the past tense (preterit) pid- is used for the third person forms
(pidió
and pidieron),
but ped‑
is used for the remaining verb forms (pedí, pediste, etc.). Unlike the
e >
ie sound change (e ~ ie alternation) that
is so common in Spanish and which is quite regular and predictable, e >
i changes are not fully predictable and
involve several factors (cf. Part I, Chapter 10,
§10.3,
change V7).
Although English does not have a verbal reflex (descendent form)
of pĕtĕre,
it does have a noun derived from that verb in Latin, namely petition
/pə.ˈtɪ.ʃən/, meaning ‘a formal, typically written request’. It comes from Latin
petītiōnem
(accusative of petītiō),
a noun derived from the passive participle stem petīt‑ and the noun-forming derivational suffix ‑ iōn‑ (pet+īt+iōn+em). This word came into
English in the 14th century through French, where it was a learned word. The use
of petition as a verb in English came
later, in the 16th century, as a conversion (zero derivation) of the noun (a denominal verb) that the English language is so adept at (cf. Part I, Chapter
5,
§5.7).
Spanish, of course, has a learned cognate of petition, namely the learned petición,
/pe.t̪i.ˈθi̯on/, first
attested in the early 15th century. Although Eng. petition and Sp. petición
are cognates, their meanings are not always equivalent. In Spanish, petición means primarily ‘request’, not necessarily
formal and not necessarily written. The connection of the noun petición with the verb pedir is obvious to a Spanish speaker, so
any act of requesting or asking for something (pedir) in Spanish can be seen as a petición. The Spanish collocation a petición de, for example, translates as ‘at the request
of’.
English petition can
translate as petición sometimes, as in
to sign a petition, which translates as firmar una petición, but not every
Spanish petición is a petition in English. Most of the time, Sp.
petición translates as request. And, in some cases, the best translation
for Eng. petition is Sp. solicitud ‘request, application, application
form, petition’, just like the verb to
petition translates primarily as solicitar ‘to request, petition, apply for,
etc.’, which is a false friend of Eng. solicit.
In the language of the law, however, a petition in English is a demanda
in Spanish (see Section 24.5
below), so petition for divorce
is demanda de divorcio, and the act of
petitioning for divorce translates as
presentar una demanda de divorcio.
Before the introduction of the learned word (cultismo) petición, the patrimonial
noun pedido,
derived from the Latin passive participle petītus,
was used instead. This word is still commonly used in the business world, where
it means ‘order’ for goods. Thus to place an order is hacer un pedido in Spanish.
Both English and Spanish have cognate verbs that come from Latin
verbs derived from petĕre by prefixation,
such as Eng. repeat ~ Sp. repetir and Eng. compete ~ Sp. competir, as
well as the associated nouns Eng. repetition
~ Sp. repetición and Eng. competition ~ Sp. competición. The meanings of the members of each pair are quite close
friends. The Spanish words are obviously learned, not patrimonial, or the Latin
‑t‑ would have turned into a Spanish ‑d‑ along the way, as it did in pedir (cf. Part I, Chapter 10,
§10.4.3).
The e > i stem change of pedir, however is transferred to the two
verbs competir and repetir, by analogy.
Lat. repĕtĕre
English repeat /ɹɪ.ˈpit/
came from Middle French repeter in the
late 14th century. This verb goes back to Latin repetĕre, formed from re‑
‘again’ + pĕtĕre (re‑+pet‑),
which meant primarily something like ‘to go at it again’ (its principal parts are:
repĕtō, repĕtĕre, repĕtīvī, repĕtītum).
This verb is often used in the sense of saying something
again, not just doing something again. Additionally, the verb repeat has a secondary, derived sense,
namely ‘to say something that another person has said’, as in repeat after me. This sense does
not seem to be found in the original Latin verb and it probably developed later.
The verb repetir was borrowed into Spanish from
Latin even later than in English, since it is first attested in the 17th
century. Although these two cognates can be equivalent in many contexts, they
are not exactly equivalent. Spanish repetir
is sometimes best translated as rerun
or do over and it has an idiomatic
use as well which translates into English as have a second helping of or to
have seconds of.
Derived nouns were also borrowed along with the verbs, namely
the cognates Eng. repetition ~ Sp. repetición, formed with the noun-forming derivational
suffix ‑iōn‑ that we
have seen before. Their meanings are quite close but they aren’t always the
best translations of each other. Sp. repetición is sometimes best translated as
repeat (the noun) or rerun. The collocation or idiom repetición de la jugada translates as action replay.
Spanish also has a derived noun, repetidor, which in education
describes a repeating student, a repeater,
but in telecommunications is the word for relay
or booster station.
Lat. compĕtĕre
English compete /kəm.ˈpit/
came also into the language from French, in the 17th century, and it goes back to
Latin compĕtĕre,
which meant primarily ‘to meet or come together’ or ‘to go at it together’. It
is formed with the prefix com‑ ‘with’
+ pĕtĕre. Its principal
parts are compĕtō, compĕtĕre, compĕtīvī, compĕtītum.
Spanish competir, a learned borrowing, is quite
a close cognate of English compete, for
it means pretty much the same thing. Both languages also have cognates derived from
the Latin action noun derived from the verb competĕre,
namely competītiōnem
(com‑+‑pet‑+‑īt‑+‑iōn‑).
These derived nouns, Eng. competition
and Sp. competición, are not as close
semantically as the verbs are, however. In sports, Eng. competition /ˌkɒm.pə.ˈtɪ.ʃən/
can be synonymous with Sp. competición, but the more generic Spanish
name for a competition is concurso or
campeonato, which are often used where
English would use the word competition.
In literary circles, on the other hand, a competition is a certamen.
Eng. competition
has another sense, namely ‘rivalry’, as
in price competition or competition
between brothers, or as in the phrase the
competition (competing brands) in business.
This sense translates into Spanish not as competición
but as competencia, another word derived from the same Latin root ‑pĕt‑, by means of the
suffix ‑ent‑ia (cf. Part I, Chapter 8,
§8.6.3).
The word competencia, however, has two
other major senses besides rivalry, one of which is the meaning this word’s
English cognate competence has, namely ‘ability, proficiency, competence’, as in
the phrase competencia lingüística ‘linguistic competence’. The
other (third) sense of Sp. competencia
is something like the main meaning of Eng. purview,
namely ‘the scope of the influence or concerns of something’ (COED). An example
of this latter sense can be found in the phrase No es de tu
competencia, which can be translated
as ‘It’s none of your business’.
Lat. impĕdīre (not related to pĕtĕre)
One might have thought that the pair of cognates Eng. impede
~ Sp. impedir are derived from petĕre,
but that is not the case. In particular, the Spanish verb looks like it may be
related to pedir since it even shares
the e > i stem change. These
two words derive from Lat. impedīre ‘to
hinder, impede, obstruct’, lit. ‘to entangle the feet’ (impĕdĭo, impĕdīre,
impĕdīvī, impĕdītum). This verb was formed
from the nominal root ped‑ ‘foot’, which
is unrelated to the Latin root pet‑ which
we have been discussing (cf. Part II, Chapter 15).
Think of impeding someone as tripping them, or blocking their feet in some way.
From the same root ped‑
‘foot’ we get other cognate verbs and nouns as well. The pair Eng. expedite ‘acelerar, agilizar’ ~ Sp. expedir ‘to send, dispatch’ are cognates,
but also false friends, since their meanings are not the same, as we can see. The
derived nouns Eng. expedition ~ Sp. expedición, however, are true cognates, at
least as far as the primary meanings of these two words is concerned. The pair Eng.
expedient ~ Sp. expediente on the other hand are also false friends. Eng. expedient is /ɪk.ˈspi.dɪə̯nt/ an adjective that
translates into Spanish as conveniente,
oportuno and Sp. expediente is a noun that translates into English as dossier, record, etc.
Lat. expĕtĕre
Spanish has yet one other verb derived from petĕre, namely despedir, one that does not
have an English cognate. This verb has several senses all related to the idea of
departure or coming out. Transitive despedir
has two major meanings. One is ‘to eject, shoot, send off, fire, emit’, as in despedir fuego ‘to shoot out fire’ or despedir
un fuerte olor ‘to emit a strong
smell’. The other transitive sense is to fire (from a job), as in El jefe
despidió al empleado ‘The boss fired
the employee’.
The most common use of this verb, however, is as a reflexive
(intransitive) verb despedirse, in which case it means ‘to say goodbye’, as in Vinieron a despedirse ‘They came to
say goodbye’ or Se fueron sin despedirse ‘They left
without saying goodbye’. Spanish despedir
is a patrimonial word that comes from Latin expĕtĕre,
formed with the prefix ex‑ and the verb
petĕre (principal parts: expĕtō, expĕtĕre, expĕtīvī, expĕtītum).
The original form of this verb was espedir.
The change of the Lat. x to Sp. s, is unremarkable, for the Latin
consonant cluster [ks] always reduced to [s]. The initial d‑, however, was added at some point probably under the assumption
that this verb contained the prefix des‑,
which typically encodes inversion of meaning.
The meaning of Lat. expĕtĕre
was something very similar to that of petĕre,
namely ‘to long for, seek after, aspire to, desire’. The extreme change in meaning
between Latin expetĕre and Spanish despedir as a simple explanation. In modern
Spanish despedir(se) means ‘to say good
bye’, but in old Spanish it actually meant ‘to ask for permission to leave’,
cf. ask + out, hence the sense of departure.
There are two nouns derived from this verb. One of them is despido,
which is a back-formation (and/or zero-derivation) of the verb despedir. Its meaning is related to one of
the transitive senses of the verb despedir
and means ‘dismissal, layoff, sacking, termination, firing’. The other one is despedida,
which is related to the reflexive (intransitive) sense of the verb despedirse and means ‘farewell, goodbye,
parting, leave-taking’.
Lat. appĕtĕre
The last verb derived from Lat. petĕre was formed with the prefix ad‑ ‘to’, which gave us Lat. appetĕre,
a verb that meant ‘to strive after, long for, desire’. Its principal parts are appĕtō, appĕtĕre, appĕtīvī, appĕtītum.
There are no reflexes of this verb itself in English or Spanish, but a Latin noun
derived from the verb has made it into both languages. The noun was appĕtītus ‘strong desire’, derived
from the passive participle of this verb. This noun is first attested in Old French
apétit (Mod.Fr. appétit /a.pe.ˈti/),
from where it came into English through Anglo-Fr. appetit around 1300 as appetite ‘craving for food’ (in Modern
English, it is pronounced /ˈæ.pə.taɪ̯t/). The Spanish cognate apetito is first attested
in the 13th century and most likely comes from French as well.
Sp. apetito and Eng.
appetite are close friends, but not all
expressions in which one of them is used has an equivalent expression in the other
language. Some do, such as Sp. abrir el apetito
and Eng. to whet one’s appetite, and apetito carnal translates
as sexual appetite (or sex drive). On the other hand, the Spanish common
phrase tener apetito means ‘to be hungry’ and comer con apetito is something like ‘to eat with gusto’. Spanish also
has a derived adjective apetitoso, which translates as appetizing when used to refer to the looks
of food, and as tasty, delicious, mouth-watering, flavorful,
etc., when it refers to its taste. It can also be used figuratively to talk about
something that is inviting or tempting.
English developed a verb appetize from the noun appetite and the suffix ‑ize in the late 18th century (1782) with
the meaning ‘to make hungry’. This verb is not very common nowadays, but two words
derived from it certainly are, namely the noun appetizer, created by
means of the agentive suffix ‑er, the
and the adjective appetizing, formed with the suffix ‑ing. The latter translates into Spanish as apetitoso, as we have just seen. The noun appetizer translates variously as aperitivo (something you eat
or drink before a meal; it translates as apéritif
if it refers to a drink instead of food), entremés
(Eng. hors d’oeuvre), tapa (in Spain),
or botana (in Mexico; also ‘snack’).
Lat. appĕtĕre
was converted into *appetĕscĕre
in Vulgar Latin, a form of the verb with an inchoative suffix (cf. Part I, Chapter
8,
§8.4.3.7).
This verb would become Sp. apetecer, which is not attested until
the late 16th century, but which is an extremely common verb in Modern Spanish since
it translates as to feel like,
to be in the mood
for, to feel up to,
or to feel like it. It is used like gustar in the sense that the ‘experiencer’ (the person in the mood in
this case) is the indirect object of the verb, not the subject like in the English
expressions, e.g. Me apetece ir ‘I feel like going’, Me
apetece una cerveza ‘I feel like (having) a beer’.
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