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Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word acordar

Houaiss, Machado and Nascentes treat acordar “to wake up” and acordar “to agree” as separate verbs, while Cunha and Wiktionary give them one etymology.[1][2][3][4][5]

acordar1 to wake up

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Back-formation
First attested
1200s Cancioneiro da Ajuda
Ultimate origin
Latin cor

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /a.koʁˈda(ʁ)/, [a.koɦˈda(h)][5]
  • São-Paulo: /a.koɾˈda(ɾ)/[5]
  • Rio-de-Janeiro: /a.koʁˈda(ʁ)/, [a.koʁˈda(χ)][5]
  • Caipira: /a.koɻˈda(ɻ)/[5]

Forms

acordar (first-person singular present acordo, first-person singular preterite acordei, past participle acordado)[5]

Etymology

The word for “to wake up” is, in Houaiss's view, a back-formation from Portuguese acordado (“sensible, in one's right mind”), the old adjective being taken for a past participle; that adjective comes from Latin cordātus (“sensible, judicious”), from cor (“heart; mind”).[1][3][6] Machado explains the sense: on waking one comes back into possession of one's senses.[2] The same Latin adjective gave Spanish cuerdo and Galician cordo “sensible”.[7][8][9]

Cunha and Wiktionary disagree: for them it is the same verb as the one meaning “to agree”, from *accordō, with the waking sense perhaps influenced by the Latin adjective.[4][5] Vieira (1871–1874) derived it from the Spanish adjective with the verb ending -ar.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is recorded from the 13th century.[1][4] The Cancioneiro da Ajuda has it in the sense “to come to oneself, to wake”, and the Crónica Troiana of someone who fell on the bed in a faint, en tal gisa que non podia acordar, “so that she could not come round”.[11] Machado, by contrast, followed Morais in dating the sense “to wake” only to the 16th century.[2]

Semantic evolution

The oldest sense is to come back to one's senses, after a faint as much as after sleep;[11][4] Cunha also records in the 13th century “to become sensible, prudent” and “to remember”.[11][4] The cantigas use it for “to remember” and, reflexively, “to call to mind”.[12]

Morais (1789) gives “to wake someone from sleep” first, and “to come to oneself” from Camões.[13] Figurative senses followed: to rouse, to stir up feelings, to break a silence, and of the day, to dawn.[1][14]

Timeline

  • 13th century – first records; the Cancioneiro da Ajuda has the sense “to come to oneself, wake”.[1][4][11]
  • 1789 – Morais gives “to wake someone from sleep” as the first sense.[13]
  • 1871 – Vieira derives it from Spanish cuerdo.[10]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (intransitive, pronominal) To wake up, to come out of sleep; to come round from a faint.[1][14][5]
  2. (transitive) To wake someone; to bring someone round.[1][5]
  3. (intransitive, figurative) To become aware, to wake up to something: acordar para a realidade.[1][5]
  4. (transitive) To stir up, to arouse a feeling; to enliven.[1][15][5]
  5. (transitive) To break, interrupt (a silence).[1]
  6. (transitive, pronominal) To remember, to recall.[1][16]
  7. (intransitive) Of the day, to begin, to dawn.[1]

Word family

  • desacordado

acordar2 to agree

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1200s
Inherited from
Latin *accordo
Ultimate origin
Latin cor

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /a.koʁˈda(ʁ)/, [a.koɦˈda(h)][5]
  • São-Paulo: /a.koɾˈda(ɾ)/[5]
  • Rio-de-Janeiro: /a.koʁˈda(ʁ)/, [a.koʁˈda(χ)][5]
  • Caipira: /a.koɻˈda(ɻ)/[5]

Forms

acordar (first-person singular present acordo, first-person singular preterite acordei, past participle acordado)[5]

Etymology

The word for “to agree” is inherited from Vulgar Latin *accordō (“to bring into agreement”), written Old Galician-Portuguese acordar in the oldest texts.[1][2][4] The Latin verb was made from Latin concordō (“to agree”) by replacing the prefix con- with ad-, and goes back to cor (“heart”).[1][2][17]

The same verb is Galician acordar, Spanish acordar, Catalan acordar, Italian accordare and French accorder.[18][7] The REW enters the whole family under *acchordō (“to tune strings”), from chorda (“string of an instrument”), and rejects a simple derivation from the word for “heart”.[7][19] Cunha and Machado keep that etymon only for the musical sense “to tune”, and Corominas sees in that sense the influence of cuerda (“string”).[4][2][20]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the verb to the 13th century.[1][4] The Crónica Troiana has acordaron de sse yr todos armar, “they agreed all to go and arm themselves”.[11] Machado's earliest quotation under this verb, from a document of 1284, is reflexive: e que alguns se nõ acordauam dela “and that some did not remember it”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Machado holds that the verb took on the sense “to put in agreement” only later.[2] In his view “to remember” and “to wake” developed after that.[2] Cunha dates “to resolve, agree” and “to grant” to the 13th century, and “to tune the strings of an instrument” to the 17th;[4][1] Houaiss's first date for the musical sense is before 1649.[4][1]

Cardoso (1569) and Pereira (1697) gloss it as aver conselho, to deliberate.[21][22] Morais (1789) lists “to resolve unanimously”, “to tune voices and instruments”, “to reconcile” and “to grant”.[13] The legal sense, a decision of a court of several judges, lives on in the noun acórdão, recorded from the 16th century.[4][1]

Timeline

  • 13th century – first records in the senses “to agree, resolve” and “to grant”.[4][1]
  • 1284 – se nõ acordauam dela in a document quoted by Machado.[2]
  • 16th century – first record of the noun acórdão.[4]
  • 1569 – Cardoso glosses it as auer conselho, Latin delibero.[21]
  • before 1649 – first record of the sense “to tune”.[1]
  • 1789 – Morais lists “to tune voices and instruments”.[13]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (transitive, intransitive) To agree, to bring or come into agreement; to reconcile.[1][14][5]
  2. (transitive) To decide jointly; to settle (a contract or a date).[1][23]
  3. (law) Of a court, to rule by a majority or unanimous vote; to issue an acórdão.[1][23]
  4. (transitive) To grant, to concede.[1][16]
  5. (art) To harmonise the forms or colours of a work.[1]
  6. (music) To tune instruments or voices together.[1][24]

Word family

  • acordo
  • acórdão
  • desacordo
  • desacordar

Usage notes

In parts of Portugal and in Rio Grande do Sul acordar and acordar-se also mean “to remember”, as Spanish acordarse does.[25][26] The noun o acordar, the awakening, is a nominalised infinitive.[5][23]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. acordar
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. acordar
  3. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. acordar
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. acordar
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. cordatus
  9. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 273
  10. ^ 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, 115
  11. ^ a b c d e 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. acordar
  12. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. acordar
  13. ^ a b c d 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, 21
  14. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. acordar
  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. acordar
  16. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 201
  17. ^ 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. acordar
  18. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 41
  19. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 6
  20. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. acordar
  21. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. acordar
  22. ^ Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. acordar
  23. ^ a b c 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. acordar
  24. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. acordar
  25. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. acordar
  26. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. acordar

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Acordar.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/acordar. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

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