alçar

Forms

alçar (first-person singular present alço, first-person singular preterite alcei, past participle alçado)^[1] Houaiss records alçassemos in 1265, alçar in the 13th century, and allçar and alzar in the 15th.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *altiō (“to raise”), written Old Galician-Portuguese alçar in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] Houaiss, Machado and Nascentes describe it as a Vulgar Latin replacement for classical altō (“to raise, to heighten”).^[2][4][5] It is built on altus (“high”) with a factitive suffix;^[1][4] Machado suggests it may have been formed through the more expressive comparative altius (“higher”).^[1][4] Du Cange records it in Medieval Latin, altiō (“to lift, raise”).^[6] The /tj/ of the Latin verb became the ⟨ç⟩ /s/ of Portuguese.^[3][7]

The same verb is Spanish alzar, Italian alzare and French hausser.^[8][1] The Spanish verb is recorded from 1044.^[9] Morais (1813) derived the Portuguese word from Old French haulser, following the Academy's dictionary, while noting that Duarte Nunes de Leão thought it native;^[10][7] Vieira repeated both views.^[10][7]

The Latin adjective was originally the participle of alō (“to nourish”), and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂eltós, from the root *h₂el- (“to grow, nourish”).^[11][1][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a charter of 1265 from Portel, e alçássemos per hy… marcos e padrões “and that we set up there… boundary stones and markers”.^[4][2] In the cantigas the verb is used for raising the eyes and for raising someone to high position, and the Crónica Troiana has alçou a espada et foy ferir a Eytor “he raised his sword and went to strike Hector”.^[13][14][15]

Semantic evolution

Already in the medieval texts the verb meant raising an object, building (the Crónica Troiana uses it for raising great valleys), standing out against the sky, and raising someone to honour.^[15][14] In the language of the law it meant appealing to a higher judge, the sense of the derived noun alçada, “appeal; jurisdiction”, recorded from the 13th century.^[16][3]

Bluteau (1712–1728) gives alçar o muro “to raise a wall higher” and alçar-se for adding storeys to a house.^[17] Printers used it for hanging up the printed sheets to dry and gathering them in order for binding.^[18][2] In rural Portugal it names the first ploughing of a field after the harvest.^[19]

In southern Brazil and the River Plate region, alçar-se is said of cattle that stray and run wild, and of a group that rises in arms.^[20][2]

Timeline

• 1265 – alçássemos in a charter of Portel.^[4][2]
• 13th century – the nouns alça and alçamento are recorded.^[21][22]
• 1344 – first record of alçapom (modern alçapão “trapdoor”).^[23]
• c. 1430 – alçar in the Horto do Esposo.^[24]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders it with Latin attollo “to lift up”.^[25]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau gives alçar o muro.^[17]
• 1798–1799 – Viterbo explains the legal sense “to appeal”.^[16]
• 1813 – Morais derives the verb from Old French.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To raise, to lift;^{[2][26][27][1]} (reflexive) to rise, to stand up: Alçou a lanterna para ver melhor.^{[2][26][27][1]}
2. To build, to erect (a wall, a tower, a monument).^[2][26][1]
3. To raise (the voice); to make stronger.^[2]
4. To extol, to celebrate.^[2][26][27]
5. To raise (someone) to a high post; to proclaim;^[2][28] (reflexive) to rise to prominence.^[2][28]
6. (reflexive) To grow proud or vain.^[2][27]
7. (Brazil, reflexive) Of cattle: to escape into the bush and run wild; of a group: to rise in arms.^[2][20]
8. (printing) To hang up (printed sheets) to dry; to gather them in order for binding.^[2][27]

Word family

• alça
• alçada
• alçador
• alçamento
• alçapão

Related words

• alto
• Latin altus
• Spanish alzar

Usage notes

Houaiss and Aurélio record a separate verb alçar “to fit with handles”, formed from the noun alça with -ar.^[2][26][1] In Portugal the imperative alça! is also used as an interjection to order something hoisted.^[21][27]

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 e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. alçar
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. alçar
4. ^ a b c d e f Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. alçar
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. alçar
6. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. s.v. altiare
7. ^ 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, 280
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 385
9. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 224
10. ^ a b c Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 85
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ Lopes, Graça Videira; Ferreira, Manuel Pedro et al. (2011–), Cantigas Medievais Galego-Portuguesas [online database], Lisboa: Instituto de Estudos Medievais, FCSH/NOVA, https://cantigas.fcsh.unl.pt, p. s.v. alçar
14. ^ a b 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. alçar
15. ^ a b 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. alçar
16. ^ a b Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 72
17. ^ 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. alçar
18. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. alçar
19. ^ 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. alçar
20. ^ a b Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. 1
21. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. alça
22. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. alçamento
23. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. alçapão
24. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. alçar
25. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. alçar
26. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. alçar
27. ^ a b c d e f Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 416
28. ^ a b 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. alçar