ali

Forms

ali (not comparable)^[1] Medieval texts also write alhy and ally, and ly in the 15th century.^[2] Until the spelling reforms it was often written alli: Figueiredo in 1899 enters ali as the same word as alli.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *adlic, formed from Latin ad (“to, towards”) and illīc (“at that place, there”), and is written Old Galician-Portuguese ali and Old Galician-Portuguese aly in the oldest texts.^[1][2][5][6] The DLP and García de Diego derive it from the Latin adverb alone.^[7][8] Morais in 1789 still took it for a compound of the preposition and an old form of the article.^[9]

The Latin adverb also gave Spanish allí and Asturian allí.^[8][10] It is formed from the pronoun ille (“that”) with the particle -ce.^[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to the 13th century from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese.^[2] Machado's first quotation is from a document of 1274: daquel dereyto que y ouuer el Rey ali u os pescados sobreditos morerem “of that right which the King shall have there where the aforesaid fish die”.^[6] The cantigas use it both for place and for time, “then, at that moment”.^[12]

Semantic evolution

In the cantigas des ali means “from then on” and ali u “then, when”.^[12] Morais still records the temporal use for a remote time, as in d'ali em diante “from then on”.^[9] Barbosa in 1611 distinguishes ali, pera ali “to there” and de ali “from there”, and Folqman in 1755 por ali and dali.^[13][14]

The modern adverb points to a place away from both speaker and hearer, to a moment (até ali “up to then”), and, after a name or pronoun, to the person spoken of, often with affection: o rapaz ali.^[2]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records; the spelling alhy is of the same century.^[2]
• 1274 – ali u in a royal document.^[6]
• 1350 – the Trasladação de S. Nicolau (copied in the 14th century) uses the word.^[15]
• 14th century – the spelling ally.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary glosses it with Latin illic.^[16]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists pera ali and de ali.^[13]
• 1789 – Morais records the use for a remote time.^[9]
• 1899 – Figueiredo refers ali to the spelling alli.^[3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. there, in that place, away from both speaker and hearer: deixa a mala ali.^[2][17][18]
2. To that place: vou ali e já volto.^[2][19]
3. In that act, person or thing: ali há coragem.^[2]
4. then, at that moment or point: até ali estivera calado.^[2][18]
5. After a name or pronoun, pointing to the person spoken of, often with affection: o Pedro ali.^[2]
6. ali por: around, about (a date, an hour or a place): chegou ali pelas nove.^[2]

Related words

• Latin illīc
• Spanish allí

Usage notes

Capitalised, Ali is a man's name, from Arabic.^[1] A separate element ali- “wing”, from Latin ala, forms learned words such as aliforme.^[17][18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. ali
3. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 58
4. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. ali
5. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. ali
6. ^ a b c Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. ali
7. ^ 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. ali
8. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. illic
9. ^ 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, 59
10. ^ 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. allí
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. illīc
12. ^ 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. ali
13. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ali
14. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ali
15. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. ali
16. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ali
17. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. ali
18. ^ a b c 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. ali
19. ^ 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. ali