The A of Separation

Abstract

The Latin preposition ad, signifying 'direction towards,' came into Spanish in the form of a, retaining most of the meanings originally expressed by ad, and acquiring some new ones. Among the most curious of these is that expressed by a in such constructions as comprar el libro a Juan, 'to buy the book from John,' or implorar auxilio a Inglaterra, 'to ask for help from England.' In such cases the meaning of a is clearly 'from,' signifying a concept entirely opposite from that ordinarily expressed by a. While most of the grammarians and lexicographers believe that the Latin ab remained in Spanish only as an inseparable prefix, such as in abrazar (ab plus bracchiare) or abatir (ab plus battuere), a few, such as Richter,' Lanchetas,2 and the Diccionario de autoridades3 indicate that perhaps the influence of ab is retained, a view which would seem superficially justifiable when considering the current use of a for the concept of separation. On studying this highly popular and overworked Spanish preposition, we were struck by the fact that the majority of the authorities have either omitted or overlooked the meaning of separation entirely. In his twenty-nine page treatment of the preposition a, for example, Cuervo4 only hints at the meaning of separation by indicating it may be the outgrowth of the dative case, and quotes such an example as quitar, defraudar el credito a alguno. The Diccionario de la Academia6 and the Diccionario hist6rico6 do not mention the concept of separation at all in discussing a. For the Cantar de mio Cid, Men6ndez Pidal7 simply states at the conclusion of his treatment of the preposition that, in such cases as espedirse a, the preposition es signo del dativo. For the sixteenth century, Keniston8 lists a number of verbs of separation and deprivation which use the a for what he calls the 'dative of interest,' among which are cortar, comprar, defender, encubrir, hurtar, oir, pedir, quitar, rogar, and tomar. Standard Modern Spanish, as well as French and Italian, all use this preposition with certain verbs of separation and deprivation to signify 'from.' Thus conveying two diametrically opposite meanings, 'to' and 'from,' this preposition presents a situation similar to that discussed by Nyrop,9 who cites such words as French devers, 'towards' or 'from,' or English consultant, to cap, and to smell, all of which convey opposite concepts, depending upon the context of the sentence for the exact meaning. The a of separation undoubtedly arose with the Latin verb petere which would require a double accusative as in mercedem Deo peto, 'I pray to God for mercy, I pray mercy from God.' In Latin either the dative or ablative case could be employed when separation was to be expressed, but with the breakdown of the Latin case system, the oblique case and various prepositions assumed the functions of the other cases. Consequently, when two accusatives were to be expressed, the personal one was converted into the dative of person, the Latin dative case being rendered in Spanish by the accusative (oblique) case plus ad (giving a). Having begun with the verb pedir, the a of separation spread to its compound espedir in Old Spanish, despedir in Modern Spanish, and as time passed it became used, possibly by analogy, with numerous verbs indicating separation and deprivation. A period of fluctuation is seen in the Cid, where both a and de were employed