poder

Forms

poder (first-person singular present puc, first-person singular preterite poguí, past participle pogut); root stress: (Northern) /o̞/, (Balearic, Central, Northwestern, Valencia) /ɔ/^[1] Old Catalan kept present forms from the classical stem ⟨poss-⟩: first person puix, subjunctive puixa and pusca.^[2] The present except the first person singular, the imperfect, the future and the conditional come from the stem pot-, the preterite and the imperfect subjunctive from potu-: poc, poguist, pogués.^[3] The old future and conditional poré, poria survive in Pyrenean and Pre-Pyrenean speech and in the Balearic Islands, where they gave an infinitive porer and present plurals porem, poreu, poren.^[2] Near the Albera forms such as posquer and posquia are heard.^[2] Coromines notes that the noun is pronounced with a sounded -r, unlike the verb; the DCVB records /puðé/, /poðé/, /poðéɾ/, /poðə́/ and /puðə́/.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Catalan poder, inherited from Vulgar Latin potēre, the regular infinitive that spoken Latin made to replace classical posse.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Wiktionary notes that ⟨potēre⟩ is attested several times in the 6th century.^[1]

Coromines explains that the classical verb was a mixture of an old simple verb, still found in Oscan, and the phrase ⟨potis esse⟩ “to be able”, contracted to ⟨posse⟩; spoken Latin built a new, mostly regular conjugation on the participle ⟨potens⟩ and the perfect ⟨potuī⟩, which gave the infinitive of every Romance language.^[2][6]

The same verb is Occitan poder, Spanish poder, Portuguese poder, French pouvoir, Italian potere and Romanian putea.^[7][1] Wiktionary takes the Latin verb from Proto-Italic *possom, made of *potis (“master, in control of”) and *som (“to be”).^[1]

The noun meaning “power” is the infinitive used as a noun.^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Coromines's first records are a document of the 12th century from the Alt Cardener, per què los òmens no poden so ferre “for which men cannot do it”, and one of 1250 from the same district: negú clerge que si metex no pod salvar, com pod salvar som pobble? “a cleric who cannot save himself, how can he save his people?”.^[2] The noun “power” is as old: the Homilies d'Organyà speak of being taken out of the power of the Devil (trer de poder de Diable).^[2]

Semantic evolution

In feudal language en poder de meant under the jurisdiction of the lord or arbiter who would judge a dispute (1242); Coromines derives from it the image of the lover in the power of his lady in Jacme March and Ausiàs March.^[2] The medieval texts also use the noun for armed force, for authority and for possession or custody (en poder del texidor, 1499).^[8] Onofre Pou's dictionary of 1575 has the document that gives someone powers to act for another.^[2]

Locally un poder means “a great deal” (Besalú) and fer un poder “to make a great effort”; at Tortosa poder-hi is “to be able to deal with something”.^[2] The derivatives are early: poderós is recorded in 1067, apoderar and despoderar in the 14th century;^[4] possible and potent are learned words from Latin.^[4] The adverb potser “perhaps”, a compound of the verb, appears about 1900 in Verdaguer, and colloquial speech has altered it to poder.^[4][5]

Timeline

• 12th century – first record, in a document from the Alt Cardener.^[2]
• 12th century – the noun in the Homilies d'Organyà.^[2]
• 1242 – en poder de, in a document of the Conca de Tremp.^[2]
• 1250 – pod salvar in another document of the Alt Cardener.^[2]
• 1381 – the Cercapou speaks of the power of the Devil.^[8]
• 1420 – a king of France enters Catalonia ab tan gran poder de terra e de mar.^[8]
• 1575 – Onofre Pou: la procura o poder.^[2]
• 1867 – the young Verdaguer still writes the future porà.^[2]
• 1875 – Feliu i Codina writes fent un poguer.^[2]
• 1932 – Fabra's dictionary.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. can, to be able: before an infinitive, to be physically or mentally capable, to have the strength, skill or means to do something.^[10]
2. To have the opportunity to do something.^[10][3]
3. may: to be allowed, to have the right or permission to do something.^[5][1]
4. To express that something is possible or may happen.^[11]

Noun

1. power, ability: the faculty of doing something.^[10][1]
2. Control or dominion over someone or something.^[10][5]
3. (politics) Government; the authority of the state and each of its branches.^[5][3]
4. Possession, custody: en poder de.^[3][8]
5. (law) A document authorising someone to act for another, a power of attorney.^[3][12]
6. (colloquial) A great quantity.^[3][2]

Adverb

1. (colloquial) maybe, an alteration of potser.^[5][1]

Word family

• apoderar
• desapoderar
• despoderar
• poderejar
• poderós
• poderosament
• poderdant
• potser

Related words

• potent
• possible
• impossible
• potència
• puixant
• Latin possum
• Occitan poder

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 6, 632
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. poder
4. ^ a b c d Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 726
5. ^ a b c d e f Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. poder
6. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 588
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. poder
9. ^ Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. poder
10. ^ a b c d Institut d'Estudis Catalans (2007), Diccionari de la llengua catalana, 2nd ed. (DIEC2), Barcelona: Edicions 62; online edition with later updates, https://dlc.iec.cat, p. s.v. poder
11. ^ Ferrer Pastor, Francesc (1985), Diccionari general, València, p. s.v. poder
12. ^ Vallès, Emili (1927), Pal·las: diccionari català il·lustrat, Barcelona: Salvat, p. s.v. poder