To detain means to illegitimately appropriate something.
Detentar is a verb that comes from the Latin detentāre . The action of possession consists of illegitimately appropriating something , retaining it and making a use that does not correspond to the person in question.
Although that is the correct definition of the term according to the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) , it is common to find another use of the concept, especially in the media.
In this sense, many people use the verb detentar as a synonym for showing off , exercising or similar actions. For example: “The midfielder was proud to hold the captain's ribbon,” “Gómez will be the one in charge of the direction of the new office.” The appropriate thing, however, would be to express yourself in the following way: “The midfielder was proud to wear the captain's ribbon,” “Gómez will be the one who manages the new office.”
Holding as appropriation of power
The notion of holding, therefore, should be limited to name the actions of those who access power , position or privilege by using force or another illegitimate mechanism: “The armed forces have held power since 1987, when they overthrew the constitutional president” , “The management of the club is held by someone who committed fraud to become the winner in the last elections” .
These observations allow us to affirm that a ruler elected democratically and in accordance with what is established by the Constitution does not hold office. This verb should be limited to those who come to power through a coup d'état , a revolution or another mechanism not contemplated by legislation.
A coup d'état leads a group to hold power.
Opposite meanings
The incorrect use of this term goes to the extreme of acquiring the completely opposite meaning; that is, "exercise a position or power to which one has been promoted legitimately." Something similar can happen with words like debit and have , which generate a lot of confusion in everyday speech for people outside the economy, particularly because their meanings are relative: the goods they refer to depend on who is speaking.
But it is still curious that popular language leads a word to its opposite meaning. This shows us the weight that customs have in shaping culture , even when it comes to those that deform or degrade the pillars on which they rest. Language academies do not usually go against these incorrect uses, but rather adapt to them; And it is in this way that little by little our language accepts terms like "yin" instead of its English version jean or the absence of an accent in the adverb "only" , generating great confusion for those who use it correctly.
Among the most common synonyms of the verb detentar we can mention the following: usurp , appropriate and retain . There are others, some of which are less explicit, as is the case with the word get , since it does not express the illicit nature with which it is carried out. Over the centuries, many rulers achieved their position of power through imposition, using military forces to generate fear in the opposition and in this way wrote the bloodiest pages in the history of humanity.
We must emphasize that human beings are the only species that use "artificial" resources to climb their social hierarchy : the rest of the animals must prove their superiority to become leaders, and it is in this way that their communities are assured the future, because they are always guided by the most suitable individual, the strongest, the most intuitive, the one who can make the best decisions for the good of the group. To hold a position, on the other hand, no positive quality is necessary, and clearly it is not done with the common good in mind but rather with personal interests.