# Romance languages: to search for/to seek



## ronanpoirier

j3st3r said:
			
		

> EDIT2: There's something else that just came to my mind. I think that Romance languages are also "inconsistent" concerning the verb to search/to seek:
> 
> Italian: cercare
> French: chercher
> Spanish: buscar


 
Portuguese: Procurar, Buscar


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## panjabigator

ronanpoirier said:
			
		

> Portuguese: Procurar, Buscar



Well procurur has a very different meaning in Spanish then according to this entry.


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## ronanpoirier

panjabigator said:
			
		

> Well "procurar" has a very different meaning in Spanish then according to this entry.


 
In Portuguese it may also mean "tentar" like "procuro conversar com pessoas inteligentes." (I try to talk to smart people).


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## panjabigator

I see!  Similar to the spanish "intentar."


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## robbie_SWE

Romanian: 

*a cauta *= to search (from Latin _cautare_)

 robbie


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## jmx

In Catalan, 'to search' = "cercar/buscar". I think "cercar" is more common in the Balearic islands, and "buscar" in the rest of the Catalan-speaking area.


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## pickypuck

It is not a question of inconsistency but of the different people who the different speakers have been in contact with.

According to the DRAE:

*buscar**.*(Quizá voz de or. celta, y esta del indoeuropeo_ *bhudh-skō_, conquistar, ganar; cf. celta _*boudi-_, ganancia, victoria, irl. ant. _búaid_, victoria, galés _budd_, ganancia).

So apparently this word has a Celtic origin related to Old Irish and Welsh.

¡Olé!


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## OBrasilo

Brazilian Portuguese also has _pesquisar_.


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## Sardokan1.0

In Sardinian : chircare (pronounce "Kirkare")

but as synonymous are also used Buscare, Procurare


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## Penyafort

The origin of the Ibero-Romance _buscar _is certainly obscure. It could be Celtic or Germanic indeed. Apparently not Latin, in any case.

The Latin _circare _had the meaning of 'go about, wander'. *Cercar *exists in Spanish with that meaning of 'surround', and also 'enclose'. The meaning of _circare _probably went from 'wander through (scrutinize a place)' to 'rummage about, search' in Medieval Latin, then to the central Romance languages.

Catalans nowadays tend to use *cercar *with the meaning of 'search' (a searcher is a *cercador*, and research is said *recerca*) but the general word being used in common speech for 'seek, look for' is *buscar*, most likely a Spanish influence as there was only _cercar _in Old Catalan, and compounds are with _cercar _too.


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## robbie_SWE

Penyafort said:


> The origin of the Ibero-Romance _buscar _is certainly obscure. It could be Celtic or Germanic indeed. Apparently not Latin, in any case.
> 
> The Latin _circare _had the meaning of 'go about, wander'. *Cercar *exists in Spanish with that meaning of 'surround', and also 'enclose'. The meaning of _circare _probably went from 'wander through (scrutinize a place)' to 'rummage about, search' in Medieval Latin, then to the central Romance languages.
> 
> Catalans nowadays tend to use *cercar *with the meaning of 'search' (a searcher is a *cercador*, and research is said *recerca*) but the general word being used in common speech for 'seek, look for' is *buscar*, most likely a Spanish influence as there was only _cercar _in Old Catalan, and compounds are with _cercar _too.



The Latin _circare  _is also present in Romanian as *a încerca* (through a Vulgar root *_incircāre_) - the meaning is "to try, to attempt".


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