acolher

Forms

acolher (first-person singular present acolho, first-person singular preterite acolhi, past participle acolhido)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote acoller.^[2][3] The spellings acolher and acoler appear in the 14th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *accolligō, written Old Galician-Portuguese acoller in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] The Vulgar Latin verb is formed from ad- and colligō (“to gather, collect”), the source of colher “to pick”.^[2][1] The same Vulgar Latin verb is Galician acoller, Spanish acoger, Catalan acollir, French accueillir and Italian accogliere.^[1][5] Machado points to a very old change of conjugation in it.^[4]

The ⟨ll⟩ of the medieval spelling and the ⟨lh⟩ of today both write the palatal /ʎ/ that arose from the Latin ⟨llig⟩.^[6] Niermeyer records Medieval Latin accolligere “to take as joint owner”, the word behind the French verb.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Machado's first record is a 13th-century cantiga of Osório Eanes: se mh a logo acolher oer “if she will take me in at once”.^[4] The Cantigas de Santa Maria use acoller for welcoming someone con muitas saudes e muitos abraçares “with many greetings and embraces”, and acoller-se for taking refuge in a church.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In the medieval chronicles the reflexive acoller-se “to retreat, take refuge” is the commonest use, and the Crónica Geral mixes coller and acoller in the same senses.^[8] The derivative acolhimento is recorded from the 14th century, acolhida and acolheita from the 16th.^[3] Bluteau gives “to receive someone who comes to us” and acolher-se a sagrado “to take sanctuary”.^[9] Morais adds “to catch someone, lay hands on him”.^[10]

The modern dictionaries extend the welcome to ideas and requests: to accept, give credit to, or grant a petition, as a judge does.^[2][11]

Timeline

• 13th century – acolher in a cantiga of Osório Eanes;^[4] acoller in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[4][8]
• 14th century – the spellings acolher and acoler.^[2]
• c. 1430 – the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437) has the word.^[12]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders acolher by Latin excipio and recipio.^[13]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau gives acolherse a sagrado “to take sanctuary”.^[9]
• 1813 – first record of acolhedor.^[3]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira explains the ⟨lh⟩ from the Latin double l.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To shelter, protect, give refuge to;^[1] (reflexive) to take refuge, find shelter.^[2][11][1]
2. To lodge, give hospitality to: Acolheram os primos durante as férias.^[2][14]
3. To welcome, receive someone into one's company.^[2][1]
4. To receive with honours.^[2]
5. To react to, take (well or badly): O autor acolheu bem as críticas.^[2][11]
6. To admit, accept; to give credit to; to grant (a petition or request).^[2][15]

Word family

• acolhedor
• acolhida
• acolhimento
• acolheita
• acolhença

Related words

• colher
• recolher
• Galician acoller
• Spanish acoger

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 k l Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. acolher
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. acolher
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. acolher
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. accueillir
6. ^ a b 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, 108
7. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. accolligere
8. ^ a b c 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. acoller
9. ^ 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. acolher
10. ^ 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, 20
11. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. acolher
12. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. acolher
13. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. acolher
14. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. acolher
15. ^ 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. acolher