Cuidar: from cognition to perception + control

Abstract

In the Middle Age, the Spanish verb cuidar had a cognitive sense derived from latin cogitare (‘to think’). This meaning remained until Classic Spanish when cuidar became a perceptive verb. In this study, through the analysis of a diachronic corpus, we highlight the basic syntactic and semantic changes that the verb cuidar suffered in the history of Spanish. The data shows that the changes in meaning trig- gered clear movements in the syntax of the verb, for example, the construction of a more concrete direct object, the alternation between a direct regime and a prepositional regime or a diferent verb modification.