abater

Forms

abater (first-person singular present abato, first-person singular preterite abati, past participle abatido)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin abbattō (“to knock down”), a Late Latin verb that Machado and Cunha date to the 6th century; it is recorded in the Salic law.^[2][3][1][4] The Late Latin verb is formed from Latin ad- and battuō (“to beat”), which from the 2nd century AD also appears as battō.^[1][2] The OLD takes the Latin verb as Gaulish;^[5][1] Wiktionary considers a Gaulish or Germanic source, perhaps ultimately imitative.^[5][1]

The same verb is Galician abater, Spanish abatir, Catalan abatre, French abattre and Italian abbattere.^[1][6] Corominas and the DLE take the Spanish verb as formed in Spanish from batir, and Silva Bastos (1912) likewise saw the Portuguese one as a- with bater;^{[7][8][9][10]} Vieira (1871) derived it from French.^{[7][8][9][10]}

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the verb to the 13th century.^[4] In the Cantigas de Santa Maria the participle appears in porque é ja o dem'abatudo “for the devil is now struck down”, where one manuscript reads demo batudo.^[7][3] The Galician Crónica Geral has dando muytos golpes polle abater a syna “dealing many blows to bring his banner down”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The first senses are physical: to throw down, to bring down a banner, to fell an enemy from his horse.^[7] Machado's first dated record, of 1440, concerns casks that had fallen apart.^[2] Bluteau (1712–1728) adds “to humble”, as God brings down the great, and Morais (1789) lists “to weaken”, “to dishearten” and “to deduct from a sum, price or debt”.^[11][12] Vieira (1871) remarks on how many senses the writers of the 15th century already gave it.^[10]

Modern Portuguese uses it for slaughtering cattle, killing game, shooting down an aircraft and, in Portugal, sending a vehicle or ship to the scrapyard.^[4][13][14]

Timeline

• 13th century – first record; the participle abatudo in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[4][3][7]
• 14th century – first record of abatido.^[3]
• 1440 – Machado's first dated record, in a document of the royal chancery.^[2]
• 15th century – first record of abatimento.^[3]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders it with Latin deprimo and abijcio.^[15]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau lists abater a bandeira “to lower the flag”.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais records “to deduct from a price or debt”.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To lower, bring down, as one's gaze or a flag.^[4][16][17]
2. (transitive) To knock down, fell (derrubar), throw to the ground.^[4][16][13]
3. (transitive) To kill, especially cattle, poultry or game; to slaughter; to shoot down an aircraft.^{[4][13][14][1]}
4. (intransitive, pronominal) To fall down, collapse, cave in.^[4][17][1]
5. (transitive) To deduct from a price or sum; to give a discount.^{[13][14][17][1]}
6. (transitive, pronominal) To dishearten, depress; to become downcast.^[16][13][14]
7. (transitive) To weaken, wear out.^[13][18]
8. (intransitive) To lessen in intensity, abate.^[17][1]
9. (transitive, pronominal) To humble, humiliate.^[14][18]
10. (Portugal) To send a vehicle or ship for scrapping.^[13][14]

Word family

• abatido
• abatimento
• abate
• abatedor
• abatedouro
• abatível

Related words

• bater
• combater
• Latin battuō
• Galician abater
• Spanish abatir

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. abater
3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. abater
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. abater
5. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. battuō
6. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. batir
7. ^ a b c d e f Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. abater
8. ^ a b Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. abatir
9. ^ a b Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. abater
10. ^ a b c Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 1, 14
11. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. abater
12. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 4
13. ^ a b c d e f g Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. abater
14. ^ a b c d e f Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. abater
15. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. abater
16. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. abater
17. ^ a b c d Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. abater
18. ^ a b Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. abater