abster

Forms

abster (first-person singular present abstenho, first-person singular preterite abstive, past participle abstido)^[1] Old texts write absteer and aster (14th century), austeer, aouster and aubster (15th century).^[2][3] Machado also quotes a 16th-century infinitive abstener.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin abstineō (“to keep away, hold back”), a learned word, conjugated like ter.^[2][4][1] The Latin verb is formed from abs (“away from”) and teneō (“to hold”).^[2][5][1]

Machado, Nascentes and Aurélio name also a Latin form abstenere, with the vowel of the simple verb restored.^[4][6][7] Nascentes explains the modern form as a remaking of the archaic Old Galician-Portuguese austeer and Old Galician-Portuguese asteer, which show the loss of /n/ between vowels that Vieira describes for the descendants of the simple Latin verb.^[6][8]

The same Latin verb is Galician abster, Asturian astener and French abstenir.^[1] French borrowed it in the 11th century and remade it with the full Latin prefix at the start of the 14th, with the ending of tenir.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the verb to the 14th century, and Cunha records absteer and aster in that century.^[2][3] A copy of the Vida de São João Clímaco made between 1430 and 1500 has asteer.^[10] Machado quotes the reflexive se austeem “they abstain” of men fighting in the field, and a 16th-century example from Arrais: o mais seguro será abster de ambas “the safest course will be to keep away from both”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Morais (1789) gives both the transitive use “to make someone stop or not undertake an action” and the reflexive abster-se “to refrain from something, such as wine or a food”, with abster-se do alheio “not to take what belongs to others”.^[11] Vieira adds “to keep at a distance” as the literal sense.^[8] In modern use the reflexive is also the political term for not voting, or for voting neither for nor against.^[12][13][14]

Timeline

• 14th century – first records, as absteer and aster.^[2][3]
• 15th century – austeer, aouster and aubster.^[2][3] A copy of the Vida de São João Clímaco has asteer.^[10]
• 16th century – Arrais writes abster, and abstener is also used.^[4]
• 1734 – Feijó's spelling dictionary sets abster against auster.^[15]
• 1789 – Morais records the transitive and reflexive uses.^[11]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira explains the loss of n between vowels in the descendants of Latin tenere.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, with de) To prevent or keep someone from doing something or from exercising a right: A chuva absteve-o de sair.^[2][7][1]
2. (pronominal, with de) To abstain or refrain from something, especially food, drink or a pleasure: abster-se de carne.^[2][7][1]
3. (pronominal) To refuse, to decline to accept something.^[2]
4. (pronominal) To hold back from acting or intervening; to restrain oneself.^[2][7][13]
5. (pronominal) Not to vote, or to vote neither for nor against.^[12][14][1]

Related words

• abstenção
• abstinente
• abstinência
• ter
• conter
• Galician abster
• French abstenir

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. abster
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. abster
4. ^ a b c d e Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. abster
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. abstineō
6. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. abster
7. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. abster
8. ^ 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, 42
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. abstenir
10. ^ a b Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. asteer
11. ^ 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, 10
12. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. abster
13. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 116
14. ^ 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. abster
15. ^ Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. abster