alborcar

Etymology

It is formed from Portuguese alborque + -ar “to barter”, with the ⟨qu⟩ of the noun written ⟨c⟩ before ⟨a⟩.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} The noun alborque is a variant of alboroque, the drink or meal that seals a bargain.^[6][7][8] Houaiss, Cunha, Machado and Nascentes take that word from Arabic, and Corriente, Pereira and Vicente derive it from the Andalusian Arabic word for a gift or treat paid by the buyer; they list the verb among its Portuguese derivatives.^{[6][7][8][9][10]} Machado notes that the Arabic word first meant “blessing”, and Corriente, Pereira and Vicente trace it to the Hebrew word for “blessed” that opens a ritual blessing said on happy occasions.^[8][10]

Machado cites Old Spanish albaroc from between 920 and 1067 and the modern Spanish alboroque, while the earliest Portuguese record of the noun he knows is Morais's dictionary of 1813.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Morais's dictionary of 1789 lists alborcar as a familiar verb meaning “to exchange, swap”.^[11] Houaiss and Machado date it from Morais's second edition of 1813.^[1][2]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau's Vocabulario already has an entry alborcar that only refers the reader to emborcar.^[12] The dictionaries since Morais give the same sense, to give or take in barter, and label it familiar.^{[11][13][14][15]} Silva Bastos marked it as little used in 1912.^[16] In the district of Bragança it means both “to swap” and “to snatch”.^[17]

Timeline

• 1789 – Morais lists alborcar, “to exchange”, as a familiar word.^[11]
• 1813 – Morais's second edition, Houaiss's and Machado's first date.^[1][2]
• 1871 – Vieira repeats Constâncio's guesses at its origin.^[13]
• 1899 – Figueiredo derives it from alborque.^[5]
• 1912 – Silva Bastos marks it as little used.^[16]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, informal) To give or receive by way of alborque; to barter, swap, exchange (permutar, trocar): Alborcámos os livros no fim do curso.^{[1][3][4][15]}
2. (Bragança) To snatch, steal.^[17]

Related words

• alborque
• alboroque
• troca

Usage notes

Vieira reports two guesses of Constâncio, a German word for “loan” and the English word broker; the sources since Figueiredo derive the verb from alborque instead.^[13][5][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. alborcar
2. ^ a b c Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. alborcar
3. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. alborcar
4. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. alborcar
5. ^ a b c Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. alborcar
6. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. alboroque
7. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. alboroque
8. ^ a b c d Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. alboroque
9. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. alboroque
10. ^ a b Corriente, Federico; Pereira, Christophe; Vicente, Ángeles (2019), Dictionnaire des emprunts ibéro-romans: emprunts à l'arabe et aux langues du monde islamique (Encyclopédie linguistique d'Al-Andalus 3), Berlin: De Gruyter, p. s.v. albaroque
11. ^ a b c 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, 51
12. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. alborcar
13. ^ 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, 271
14. ^ Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. alborcar
15. ^ 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. alborcar
16. ^ a b Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. alborcar
17. ^ a b 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. alborcar