agora

Forms

agora (not comparable)^[1] Houaiss records the spellings agorra (14th century), aguora and haguora (15th century).^[2] Machado finds agura in 1258 and ahora, aora in 1443, perhaps a Castilianism.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin hāc hōrā (“at this hour”), written Old Galician-Portuguese agora in the oldest texts.^{[2][4][3][5][1]} The Latin phrase is the ablative of haec hōra.^[6] Cornu derived it instead from ad hōram, with a /ɡ/ inserted between the vowels, Nascentes reports.^[7]

The same phrase is Galician agora, Spanish ahora and Old Spanish agora; Italian ora and Old French ore continue the Latin noun alone.^[1][7][8][9] hāc is the feminine ablative of hic (“this”).^[1][10] hōra (“hour”) is from Ancient Greek ὥρα (hṓra, “time, season”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's first record is a charter of 1244: pola talega de Uiana, qual agora anda, “by the measure of Viana that is now in use”.^[11] Machado quotes King Dinis, Quando m'agora ouver d'alongar / D'aquesta terra, “When I now have to go far from this land”, and a Latin document of 1258 with the Romance agura: que agura chamam Viana “which they now call Viana”.^[3] The Cancioneiro da Ajuda glosses it “at this hour”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The word took the place of Latin nunc (“now”).^[5] Beside “now, at this moment” the old language had des agora “from now on”, as the modern one has de agora em diante.^[12][1] Bluteau (1712–1728) glosses it “at this hour, at this instant” and gives inda agora se foi “he has only just gone”.^[13] Morais (1789) notes its use as a noun (desde agora, para agora) and as an ironic exclamation, agora!.^[14] Machado dates the interjection to the 19th century, with an example from Garrett.^[3]

As a conjunction it means “but, on the other hand” and, repeated, “now … now”.^[15][1][16] Papiamentu awor and Tetum agora come from the Portuguese word.^[1]

Timeline

• 1244 – qual agora anda in a charter.^[11]
• 1258 – agura in a Latin document of the Inquirições.^[3]
• 13th century – Cunha's century for the word, and Houaiss's (from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese).^[4][2]
• 1443 – the spelling ahora.^[3]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau glosses agora “at this hour, at this instant”.^[13]
• 1789 – Morais records agora as a noun and as an ironic exclamation.^[14]
• 19th century – the interjection agora! in Garrett.^[3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. now, at this moment: Agora não tenho tempo.^[2][1][17]
2. A moment ago, just now: Ela saiu agora mesmo.^[2][1]
3. Nowadays, at present; any more, as opposed to the past.^[2][1][18]
4. From now on.^[18][6]
5. Then, in view of this: Agora vejamos o resto.^[16][15]

Conjunction

1. But, on the other hand, whereas.^[1][15]
2. (repeated) Now … now, sometimes … sometimes.^[1][6]

Interjection

1. An exclamation of disbelief or surprise.^[18][15]

Noun

1. The present time, the now.^[1][6]

Word family

• agorinha

Related words

• hora
• ora
• Spanish ahora
• Galician agora

Usage notes

The element agora- of agorafobia has a separate source, Greek agorá “assembly, public square”.^[17][18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. agora
3. ^ a b c d e f g Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. agora
4. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. agora
5. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. agora
6. ^ a b c d Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. agora
7. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 12
8. ^ 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. ahora
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. hora
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ 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. agora
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. agora
13. ^ 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. agora
14. ^ 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, 42
15. ^ a b c d 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. agora
16. ^ 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. agora
17. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. agora
18. ^ a b c d Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 343