The Latin verb dēsĭdēre was a rare one. It was form with the prefix dē‑ ‘of, from, down’ added to the basic verb sĕdēre ‘to sit’. Its meaning was ‘to remain or continue sitting, to sit long’, but ‘with the accessory idea of inactivity, to sit idle, to remain inactive’ (L&S). Related to this verb is the Latin adjective dēses, gen. dēsĭdis (regular stem: dēsĭd‑) meaning ‘idle’ and, from this adjective, the noun dēsĭdĭa meaning ‘idleness inactivity laziness, indolence, sloth’ (dē‑sĭd‑ĭ‑a). The adjective dēses has not made it to the present day in English or Spanish, but Spanish borrowed the noun desidia from Latin (first attested in the late 17th century). It translates into English as slackness or indolence and, when referring to personal appearance, as slovenliness.
There is
additionally a Latin verb dēsīdĕre
(principal parts: dēsīdo, dēsīdĕre, dēsēdi), derived from dēsīdĕre
by the prefixation of the same prefix dē‑
‘of, from’. Its meaning was primarily ‘to sink, fall, or settle down’ and
secondarily, ‘to deteriorate, degenerate’. This verb or words derived from it
have not left any descendants in English and Spanish but, as we shall see
below, there is a chance that the English word desire is related to it somehow.
But let us go back first to Lat. dēsĭdĭa. We find that this noun
was transformed into the neuter singular noun dēsĭdĭum in Vulgar Latin, a
word that had the meaning of ‘desire’ and, in particular, ‘erotic desire’, ‘licentiousness’,
and ‘voluptuousness’ (dē‑sĭd‑ĭ‑um).
From the ‘indolence’ meaning of the Latin word dēsĭdĭa to the ‘(erotic)
desire’ meaning of Vulgar Latin word dēsĭdĭum
there is quite a semantic leap which it is not totally clear how it happened.
This word became the Spanish patrimonial word deseo [d̪e.ˈse.o]
‘desire’, which is first attested in the 13th century. The sound changes are
the regular ones expected in a patrimonial word, with short Latin ĭ
becoming Spanish e (twice), short ŭ
becoming o after losing the
word-final ‑m, plus the loss of
intervocalic ‑d‑ and the resulting
coalescence of two identical vowels:
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Spanish deseo
is a clear cognate of the word for the meaning ‘desire’ in other Romance
languages, from the same source dēsĭdĭum,
such as Port. desejo, Cat. desig, Occ. desieg, and It. desìo or disìo. This is the accepted theory about
the origin of Sp. deseo.
The verb desear ‘to
wish, desire’ then was derived, in Spanish, from the noun deseo, by conversion or back-formation, keeping the same root dese‑ and adding the appropriate verbal
inflections to it (cf. Part I, Chapter 5,
§5.7,
§5.9).
There are other Romance languages whose noun and verb meaning ‘desire’ come
from the same source, such as Catalan desig-desitjar and Portuguese desejo-desejar.
Eng. desire, which
has the same form as a verb and as a noun, looks close enough to Sp. desear/deseo to make us suspect that these words could be cognates.
However, these words cannot be cognates and the connection between them is not
at all clear and has been the source of much controversy. The English verb desire [dɪ.ˈzaɪ̯.əɹ] is a loanword, first
attested in the early 13th century, from Old French desirer ‘to wish, desire, long for’, first attested at the end of
the 11th century. This verb descends from Latin dēsīdĕrāre, a verb that meant ‘to desire’ in Latin. The English
homonymous noun desire is a loanword,
first attested in the early 14th century, from the Old French noun desir (end of the 12th century) derived,
in French, from the verb desirer. In
Modern French, the verb is désirer
[de.zi.ˈʀe] and the noun
désir [de.ˈziʀ].
Because the nouns Eng. desire
~ Sp. deseo have different sources,
we cannot say that they are cognates. The same is true of the verbs Eng. desire ~ Sp. desear, which do not have the same etymological source. We would
like to find out, however, if there is a connection between the words, that is,
whether there is any relation between Lat. dēsĭdĭum
and Lat. dēsīdĕrāre, as the
similarities between the words might suggest.
The Latin verb dēsīdĕrāre
(dē‑sīdĕr‑ā‑re) had
the principal parts dēsīdĕro, dēsīdĕrāre, dēsīdĕrāvi, dēsīdĕrātum. Its meaning was ‘to long for, greatly wish for, to
desire something not possessed’ and ‘to miss, feel the lack of something gone
and wanting it back’. It seems that the ‘miss’ sense may have come first,
before the ‘desire’ sense. This was not
the only or the main verb meaning ‘to desire’ in Latin. Another major one was cŭpĕre (cŭpĭo, cŭpĕre, cŭpīvi or cŭpĭi,
cŭpītum).[1]
Besides French, other Romance languages also have verbs
meaning ‘desire’ that are derived from Lat. dēsīdĕrāre.
Italian has a learned variant desiderare
(from an earlier disiderare) and a
shortened version desirare. Romanian
had dezidera or deșidera. Occitan, on the other hand, has both desirer, from Lat. dēsīdĕrāre,
and desejar, which would seem to be
derived from Lat. dēsĭdĭum,
just like Sp. desear.
The source of the Latin verb dēsīdĕrāre is a bit of a mystery,
however. This verb looks close enough to the noun dēsĭdĭum, derived from the verb
of sitting dēsĭdēre and the source of Sp. deseo, that we would want to think that the two are related.
However, connecting the first conjugation dēsīdĕrāre
(dē‑sīdĕr‑ā‑re) to a verb of
sitting, either second conjugation dēsĭdēre
(dē‑sĭd‑ē‑re)
or third conjugation dēsīdĕre
(dē‑sīd‑ĕ‑re), is not as simple as
it seems.
It is not particularly helpful that the standard etymology
given for dēsīdĕrāre, one
that goes back to the Roman grammarians themselves, is that the root or radical
of the verb dēsīdĕrāre
is ‑sīdĕr‑, which is the regular root
of the noun sīdus (genitive sīdĕris, regular root: sīdĕr‑), a word that means
primarily ‘constellation, asterism’ and, derived from it, ‘a star’ (synonym of astēr, astrum, and the poetic stēlla),
as well as, figuratively, ‘the night sky’ and ‘a season (of the year)’. Because
of this sound identity of the roots of sīdus
and dēsīdĕrāre, it has been
argued that the latter comes from the former and that there must be a semantic
connection between the meaning ‘constellation’ and ‘desire’ (think of wishing upon a star perhaps). However, we
do not really know what the connection could be between the two, or between
them and the noun dēsĭdĭum,
derived from a verb of sitting, from which Sp. deseo comes from. And it is quite likely that the ‘constellation’
connection is but a very old faulty etymology
Note that there is no un-prefixed verb *sīdĕrāre in Latin that dēsīdĕrāre
can be connected to and be seen as derived from. There is, however, one other
Latin verb that has the same structure as dēsīdĕrāre,
namely cōnsīderāre, which contains
the prefix con‑ ‘with’. This verb is
the source of Eng. consider and Sp. considerar and its meaning was ‘to look
at closely, regard attentively, inspect, examine, survey’ (L&S). The
meaning of this verb does not help us, however, with our search for the connection
of the stem ‑sīdĕr‑ of these verbs
and the root sīdĕr‑ meaning
‘constellation’.[2]
Not everyone has given up on the possibility that the verb dēsīdĕrāre is related to the verb dēsīdĕre, even though the
semantics and the morphology of the connection are not at all obvious.[i]
Regarding the morphological aspect of the issue, it has been suggested that
perhaps ‑sīdĕr‑ is a
lengthened form of the root ‑sīd‑, by
some kind of a rare, old, and frozen intensive suffix that looks like ‑ĕr‑
in Classical Latin. This would mean that the stem/root ‑sīdĕr‑ of the verb dēsīdĕrāre
is a lengthened version of ‑sīd‑, a
change that would have taken place very early on in the history of Latin and
whose purpose might have been one of intensification of the meaning. It would
not be appropriate to call the lengthening material ‑ĕr‑ a true
suffix in Classical Latin (dē‑sīd‑ĕr‑ā‑re),
but it may have been at some earlier point.
There are at least two Latin verbs that would seem to contain
this same type of lengthened root or suffix, namely tŏlĕrāre, source of Eng. tolerate and Sp. tolerar,
and rĕcĭpĕrāre or rĕcŭpĕrāre, source
of Eng. recover and recuperate and Sp. recobrar and recuperar.[3]
In addition In addition to dēsīdĕrāre,
Lat. cōnsīdĕrāre would
have also been derived by the same suffix from a simpler cōnsīdĕre ‘to sit down, be seated; to settle; to sit as a
judge; etc.’. The truth, however, is that we will probably never know what the
truth is about these words and whether there is a connection between dēsīdĕrāre and the verbs of sitting.
Let us look next at a few interesting words that were
derived from the Latin verb dēsīdĕrāre.
One of them was the adjective dēsīdĕrābĭlis,
formed with the third declension adjectival suffix ‑ā‑bĭl‑ (source of Eng. ‑able), meaning ‘desirable’. English desirable is loanword (12th century?) from Fr. desirable which itself is probably not descended from Lat. dēsīdĕrābĭlis but,
rather, it was derived in French from the verb désirer and the suffix ‑able,
perhaps as a calque of Lat. dēsīdĕrābĭlis.
The Spanish equivalent of Eng. desirable is deseable (dese-a‑ble), which was derived from the
verb desear which, as we saw, is
derived from the noun deseo, probably
also on the pattern of Lat. dēsīdĕrābĭlis.
Thus, we can see that Sp. deseable
and Eng. desirable are not strictly
speaking cognates, since they do not have the same source. There are also not
fully equivalent in their use. The English word desirable is definitely more common than Sp. deseable. It can be applied to things, to people, and to outcomes
or options (SOD). Sp. deseable is not
typically used for things, such as houses or locations. When used for people,
it has an sexual connotation, much like Eng. desirable does, but other options, such as atractivo/a, are more common in Spanish. Sp. deseable is indeed used in the contexts of outcomes and options,
but there are other synonyms that may be more common, such as conveniente ‘convenient’ and aconsejable ‘advisable’. In addition to deseable, we should note that Spanish
dictionaries, such as the DLE, mention a very rare Spanish adjective desiderable, a synonym of deseable, which is a loan from Lat. dēsīdĕrābĭlis and,
thus, more a cognate of Eng. desirable.
(Strictly speaking, the two would be cognates if Eng. desirable descends ultimately from Lat. dēsīdĕrābĭlis. However, even if desirable comes from a French calque of
this Latin word, using descendants of the same morphemes, we could probably consider
them cognates as well.)
English has a doublet of the verb desire that was borrowed from French and which ultimately comes
from Lat. dēsīdĕrāre. The verb is desiderate, borrowed in the mid-17th
century from the passive participle dēsīdĕrātus
of the verb dēsīdĕrāre. This verb was
used with the meaning ‘[to] feel a keen desire for (something lacking or
absent)’ (OAD) and it is archaic today.
There are several Latin nouns derived from the verb dēsīdĕrāre which have left (rare) descendants
in English and/or Spanish, namely dēsīdĕrĭum,
dēsīdĕrātĭo,
and dēsīdĕrātum/dēsīdĕrāta. Lat. dēsīdĕrĭum
meant ‘a longing, ardent desire or wish, properly for something once possessed;
grief, regret for the absence or loss of any thing’ (L&S). Its plural form dēsīdĕrĭa was used with the meaning ‘pleasures,
desires’. It was formed with the suffix ‑ĭ‑(um)
used to form abstract nouns. This word was borrowed into English in the early
18th century as desiderium, which
meant ‘an ardent desire or longing; especially : a feeling of loss or grief for
something lost’ (WNTIU). This noun has no cognate in Spanish.
The rare Latin noun dēsīdĕrātĭo
(gen. dēsīdĕrātĭōnis)
‘a desiring, longing for any thing; a missing’ (L&S) was formed with the
noun-forming suffix ‑ĭōn‑ (‑ĭo in the nominative case) that
attaches itself to passive participles. This noun too was borrowed into English
at one point as desideration, meaning
‘the action of desiderating; desire, with feeling of want or regret’ and the,
now obsolete, sense ‘thing desired, desideratum’ (OED). This noun also has no
Spanish cognate.
Finally the noun dēsīdĕrātum
is a late creation, derived from the neuter wordform of the passive participle dēsīdĕrātus of the verb dēsīdĕrāre. This noun has been borrowed
into English as desideratum and into Spanish
as desiderátum, both meaning ‘something
considered necessary or highly desirable’ (AHD). Note that the Spanish word did
not adapt its Latin ending as such words usually do and is thus considered as a
raw Latinism (Sp. latinismo crudo). Eng.
desideratum came into the language in the 17th century. Both English and
Spanish use the original Latin plural form of this word, namely desiderata (in both languages), which
has a collective sense, not just a plural one, and it thus means something like
‘list/compendium of things that are needed or wanted’.
Let us finish our overview of words of desire by mentioning the French woman’s given name Désirée [de.zi.ˈʀe], borrowed into English as Desiree or Desirée [ˈdɛ.zi.ˌɹeɪ̯].
This name is identical to the feminine form of the past participle of the
French verb désirer ‘to desire’ and,
thus, its meaning is ‘desired’. The masculine form of this past participle is désiré (same pronunciation), which has
also been used as a name for males in French, though less commonly than its feminine
counterpart. Other languages have borrowed this French name besides English and
the name became somewhat popular in the 19th century because it was the name of
a French-born queen of Sweden. In the English-speaking world, the name was made
popular by the movie Désirée (1954).
The creative variants Desirae and Deziree have been used in English as
well.
Actually, the French woman’s name Désirée is a modern form of the Latin name Desideria, which is the feminine form of the saint’s name Desiderius, a late Roman, male given
name, related to the word dēsīdĕrĭum
we just saw and which can thus be translated as ‘someone or something desired
or longed for’. Modern versions of the name Desiderius,
besides Eng. Desiderious [ˌdɛ.zɪ.ˈdɪə̯.ɹɪə̯s], include modern French Didier, Italian Desiderio,
Spanish Desiderio (shortened to Desi),[4]
Portuguese Desidério, and Hungarian Dezső.
[1] Derived from this verb were the adjective cŭpĭdus ‘longing, desiring, desirous,
eager, in a good and bad sense, wishing, loving, fond, etc.’ and the noun cupīdō (gen. cupīdinis, regular root cupīdin‑),
meaning ‘desire, longing, wish, eagerness’, usually in a negative sense. A
related noun was cŭpĭdĭtās ‘a desire,
wish, longing’, derived from the, derived from the adjective cŭpĭdus. By the way, Cupīdō was ‘the Roman god of sexual love
[son of Venus], represented as a beautiful boy with wings who is carrying a bow
and arrow’ (DOCE).
[2] There is one rare verb with the root ‑sīdĕr‑ which seems to be connected to
the noun sīdus, namely praesīdĕrāre, formed with the prefix prae‑ ‘before’ (praesīdĕro, praesīdĕrāre,
praesīdĕrāvi, praesīdĕrātum). It is not clear what is meaning is, whether it is
‘to be in advance of the constellations’ (L&S) or ‘to move forward the
winter or the season’. There is another verb in Medieval Latin that follows
this pattern, namely assiderare, from
which comes the identical Italian verb meaning ‘to freeze’, but this verb does
not help us much to determine the source of dēsīdĕrāre
or cōnsīdĕrāre.
[3] Lat. tŏlĕrāre
‘to bear, endure, tolerate, sustain, support’ (tŏlĕro, tŏlĕrāre, tŏlĕrāvi, tŏlĕrātus) has the stem tŏlĕr‑,
which would be a lengthened version of the root toll‑ of the verb tollĕre ‘raise, lift up, elevate, etc.’ (tollō,
tollĕre, sustulī,
sublātum), cf. Eng. extol.
Lat. rĕcĭpĕrāre ‘to get or obtain again; to
regain, recover’ (rĕcĭpĕrō, rĕcĭpĕrāre, rĕcĭpĕrāvī, rĕcĭpĕrātum)
has the stem rĕ‑cĭpĕr‑, which would
be a lengthened version of the stem rĕ‑cĭp‑ of the verb rĕcĭpĕre ‘to take back, to receive’ (rĕcĭpĭō, rĕcĭpĕre, rĕcēpī, rĕcĕptum), cf. Eng. receive
~ Sp. recibir. The root cĭp‑ is an allomorph of the root cap‑ found in the unprefixed verb capĕre ‘to take’ (căpĭo,
capĕre, cēpi,
captum; cf. Part II, Chapter 11).
Another version
of Lat. rĕcĭpĕrāre was rĕcŭpĕrāre, where the root cap‑ has the allomorph ‑cŭp‑. It is hard not to notice the similarity between this verb and the
verb cŭpĕre that was perhaps the main verb that meant ‘to desire’ in Latin.
[4] The diminutive of Sp. Desiderio is Desi and it was made popular by Desi
Arnaz, a Cuban-born American entertainer, 1917–1986, who is perhaps best known for
being the co-star along with Lucille Ball, his real life wife, in the American
television sitcom I Love Lucy (1957-1960),
one of the most influential TV shows in American history.
[i] A proponent of the verbs dēsīdĕrāre and cōnsīdĕrāre containing the root sīd‑
is Benjamín García-Hernández, cf. “Considero:
Propuestas etimológicas y contenido semántico”, Cuadernos de Filología Clásica
(Estudios latinos), Editorial Universidad Complutense, Madrid, 1991, pp. 87-98.
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