This is Part 12. Go to Part 11
Latin nouns derived from Lat. prŏbāre
Introduction
There are several Latin nouns derived from the verb prŏbāre. Latin had different ways to derive nouns of different types (action, actor, etc.) from verbs. Some were derived by adding a suffix to the verbal root, in this case prŏb‑. Most nouns that came from verbs in Latin, however, were derived by adding suffixes to the verb’s perfect stem which also contained other suffixes, such as the vowel ‑ā‑ associated with first conjugation verbs, and the passive suffix ‑t‑, which in this case resulted in the stem prŏb‑ā‑t‑ (cf. Part I, Chapter 8, §8.4.3.1). Some deverbal nouns were derived from a form of the passive participle without the addition of any derivational suffixes, only inflectional ones. The nouns derived from that verb are those in Table 178 below. The stem is given in each case, next to the derivational suffix (if there is one) and the inflection of the wordform from which the English and Spanish nouns were taken.
Below
we will look at the first four of these nouns: prŏbātum,
prŏbĭtātem, prŏbātĭōnem, and prŏbātōrem. They are the ones that have descendants
in English and/or Spanish. The last one, prŏbātōrĭa, has no reflexes in these two
languages, but its origin will be discussed in the next section, which is about
adjctives derived from the verb prŏbāre.
In addition
to those five the nouns, there could have been other Latin nouns derived from
this verb. One possible additional word would have been *prŏbātūra,
formed with the Latin feminine suffix ‑ūr‑(a), which derived abstract nouns
from adjectives, added to the passive stem. There is no evidence, however,
that such a Latin word existed. Curiously, the word probatura is found in
the Spanish dictionary, as a colloquial (and very rare) synonym of the word prueba.
María Moliner’s dictionary even gives a sample sentence, cf. Me cansan
tantas probaturas ‘I am tired of so many tests’. It would seem that this
word was not borrowed from Latin but, rather, created in Spanish, probably for
humoristic purposes, from the root prob‑ by analogy with real loanwords
from Latin such as aventura and abreviatura by means of the
Latinate suffix ‑dura/‑tura.
Eng. probate
Lat. prŏbātum was first of all the neuter form of the adjective prŏbātus, identical in form to the
passive participle prŏbātus/a/um of the verb prŏbāre. The adjective meant something like ‘proved’ and the noun prŏbātum ‘thing (that has been) proved’. Spanish does
not have a descendant (reflex) of this noun, either a patrimonial or a borrowed
one, but English did borrow it from Latin in the early 15th century as probate
[ˈpʰɹoʊ̯.ˌbeɪ̯t] with the customary change of the inflection ending to ‑e adopted from French.
Among the first attested
meanings of the English noun probate
were ‘the act of proving something’, ‘the fact of being proved’, ‘proof,
demonstration’, ‘evidence, testimony’ (OED). By the middle of the 15th century, however, this
word was being as a legal term with the meaning that has persisted until today,
namely ‘the official proving of a will; the legal process involving this’
(OED). This noun translates into Spanish as legalización/autenti(fi)cación/validación de un testamento.
In noun-noun compounds, the noun probate can act as a modifier
(‘adjective’), resulting in common phrases such as probate law (Sp. ley
testamentaria or ley de sucesiones), probate judge (Sp. juez
testamentario/a), and probate court (Sp. tribunal testamentario).
In North America, the noun probate has been converted into a verb, to probate, meaning ‘[to] establish the
validity of (a will)’ (COED), e.g. After her death, Merchants probated her
will and subsequently petitioned for a final settlement of the estate (OED).
This verb translates into Spanish as legalizar/autenticar
un testamento.
Eng. probation ~ Sp. probación
The
nouns Eng. probation ~ Sp. probación are cognates, since they descend
from the same Latin word, but they are false friends since they do not share
their meanings in other than a very remote way. They are both loanwords from
Lat. prŏbātĭōnem, the accusative wordform of
the noun that is prŏbātĭō
in the nominative form (prŏb‑ā‑t+ĭōn‑em).
Its meaning was ‘a
trying, proving’ and ‘a trial, inspection, examination’ (L&S).
It was formed with the suffix ‑ĭōn‑ that formed action nouns from verbs, and which attached itself
to the verb’s passive participle stem, prŏb‑ā‑t‑ in his case.
Sp. probación is a very rare synonym of the nouns prueba
‘test’ or comprobación ‘verification, checking’ (see above). It is safe to
say that most native speakers of Spanish have never encountered this word. The first
sense according to the DLE is a synonym of prueba ‘test’, but the second
is one used in religious orders, referring to a trial period lasting at least one
year in which priest candidates must prove their ‘vocation and virtue’.[1]
Sp. probación is found in the 1737 version of the Academy’s dictionary (DRAE),
though it is attested in an early dictionary from 1505 (DIRAE).
Eng. probation, on the other hand, is a common word, one
that has two related meanings. In legal matters, it refers to ‘the release of
an offender from detention, subject to a period of good behavior under
supervision’ and, in non-legal contexts, it refers to ‘the process of testing
or observing the character or abilities of a person who is new to a role or job’
(COED). In North America, the word is also used in an academic context with the
meaning ‘a limited period of time granted to a student in which to improve
conduct or academic performance (failure to do so typically resulting in exclusion).
Usually in on probation’ (OED). This word translates into Spanish as libertad
condicional in the legal context and as período de prueba in the
context of employment and the non-legal contexts. Eng. probation is attested
as early as the early 15th century, with the sense ‘putting something to the
test; trial, etc.’. Later the word acquired religious and other senses. The legal
sense of the English word is from the late 19th century and it originated in the
US.
Eng. probity ~ Sp. probidad
We have already come across these cognates in this chapter. They
are formal and rare nouns that are loanwords from Lat. prŏbĭtātem (nominative: prŏbĭtas),
and abstract noun derived from the verb prŏbāre. It was derived from the
adjective prŏbus/a ‘good, proper, well-behaved, etc.’ and it meant ‘goodness,
worth, uprightness, honesty, probity; modesty’ (L&S).
Sp. probidad is related to (and as formal as) the adjective
probo/a ‘honest’ that we saw earlier. In English, probity cannot be
related to an adjective, so it is even rarer and more of an orphan than its Spanish
cognate. In theory, the two words are good friends (same meaning) but most Spanish-English
dictionaries translate probidad not as probity but as honesty,
integrity (Vox), since probity is such a rare word.
The OED tells us that probity came into the English language
through writing by the hand of different authors and although some many have borrowed
it from Latin, others took it from Middle French probité ‘strict
honesty, integrity, rectitude, decency’, also a learned word in that language (a
loanword from Latin). Eng. probity is first attested in the first half of
the 15th century. The first citation of this word in the OED is from 1425 and the
next one is from almost a century later, 1518. The French cognate probité
is first attested in 1420 according to Le Grand Robert (LGR), so they both came
about around the same time. Clearly anybody who used these words in written English
or French at the time also knew Latin, which made the introduction of such Latin
loanwords unproblematic for the reader. Eng. probity, however, is one of
those loanwords that never really caught on in popular speech, though it also refused
to become obsolete altogether, since it kept on being used occasionally by writers.
It is safe to say, however, that most English speakers have never heard it or seen
it used in their lives.
We do not know when Sp. probidad was first used in Spanish.
We do know that it wasn’t in the first editions of the Academy’s dictionary (DRAE)
in the 18th century and that it first appeared in that dictionary in 1803 (DIRAE).
It is possible that it didn’t appear until then because it was so rare, but it could
also be that it didn’t start being used until then because it was borrowed through
French, simply adapting the French ending ‑ité from the Latin ‑ĭtātem, to what the ending always
changed to in Spanish, namely ‑idad. The Academy’s dictionary of course says
that the word is a loanword from Latin, not French.
Eng. †probator ~ Sp. †probador
Finally, Latin had a noun probātor (accusative wordform:
probātōrem) that in classical Latin
meant ‘examiner, approver’, but which in later Latin, also came to mean ‘person
who accuses an accomplice’ (OED). This word was derived from the passive participle
stem probāt‑ and
the agent suffix ‑ōr‑
(the nominative singular form of this suffix was ‑or, not followed by any
inflection).
The noun probātor is commonly found with the ‘accuser’ sense in Latin
legal writings found in Britain in the mid-12th to mid-15th centuries and from there
it was borrowed into English in the late 13th century as the noun probator
(OED). Later on, Eng. probator also came to mean ‘one who appeals to a
higher tribunal’ (OED). This word, however, is obsolete today and fully out of circulation
(that is what the † next to the
word in the OED entry indicates, cf. Part I, Chapter 4, §4.6.2).
Spanish also
borrowed this word in the Middle Ages, as probador, but its meaning was different,
although also related to the law, and perhaps closer to the original ‘examiner’
meaning, since it meant ‘defense lawyer’. Although the word was a loan from Latin,
it changed the ending from ‑ator to ‑ador, which is a common suffix
adaptation, for ‑ador is what Latin ‑ā‑t‑ōr‑ had become in patrimonial words, that
is, in Latin words descended though the ages by word-of-mouth, not borrowed (cf.
Part I, Chapter 1). Much like Eng. probator, Sp. probador became obsolete
and this descendant of Lat. probātor is not found in Spanish anymore.
However, Spanish
still has a word probador, but this word seems to have been formed in Spanish
with the patrimonial suffix ‑ador that descends from the same Latin ending
‑ā‑t‑ōr‑(em)
attached to the root of the verb probar, and thus it would be incorrect to call
it a cognate of Middle English probator. Modern Spanish probador means
primarily ‘changing room, fitting room’ in modern Spanish and it is thus derived
from the ‘try on’ sense of the verb probar and the ‑ador ending here
has the (less common) sense of ‘place’, not of ‘agent, doer’, a sense also found
in the word comedor ‘dining room’, for example. Conceivably, the word probador
can also be used as an agent noun (and adjective) to describe a person or thing
that does any of the things that the verb probar means, such as ‘taster’, ‘someone
who tries things on’, etc.
Go to Part 13
Go to Part 13
[1] DLE: ‘En
las órdenes regulares, examen y prueba que debe hacerse, al menos durante un
año, de la vocación y virtud de los novicios antes de profesar.’
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