alumiar

Forms

alumiar (first-person singular present alumio, first-person singular preterite alumiei, past participle alumiado)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote alumẽar, alumear and alumiar, and the 14th century also alomear and alomyar.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *allūminō (“to light, kindle”), written Old Galician-Portuguese alumẽar in the oldest texts.^{[3][5][6][7][1]} The REW and Machado explain the Vulgar Latin verb as a remodelling of illūminō (“to light up”), and Houaiss and the DLP derive it from lūmen (“light”).^[6][4][3][7] Nascentes, Aurélio and Vieira start from the classical verb itself, and Nascentes reports that Cornu saw the influence of the ⟨l⟩ there, while Meyer-Lübke preferred the Vulgar Latin form.^[8][9][10] Vieira points to the loss of the medial /n/, as in sēminō > semear.^[10]

The same Vulgar Latin verb is Galician alumear, Spanish alumbrar, Old Occitan alumenar, French allumer and Italian alluminare.^[6][1] The Latin noun goes back to *léwk-s-mn̥, from the root *lewk- (“bright”).^[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Cantigas de Santa Maria a great light is seen que alumeava mui mais que outras craridades “that shone far more than other lights”, and one cantiga tells how Holy Mary gave sight to a blind cleric (alumiou un crerigo que era cego).^[2] The Miragres de Santiago use it for healing the blind as well as for giving light.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The medieval senses, “give light” and “give sight to the blind”, led to the spiritual sense: a 14th-century catechism says that faith alomea o entendimento “enlightens the understanding”.^[4][12] Bluteau adds “to walk before someone with a torch”.^[13] Morais (1789) records a farming sense, to open furrows in ploughed land to drain it, and an engraver's term, to fire the letters cut in stone and filled with pitch to blacken them.^[14] Figueiredo (1899) has the Algarve sense “to dig round the trunk of a vine to give it more light”, which Houaiss gives as regional Portuguese.^[15][3]

Brazilian Portuguese uses it intransitively for “to gleam, shine”, and the informal sense “to proclaim, make known” is in Houaiss and the DLP.^[3][7][16]

Timeline

• 1200s – alumẽar and alumiar in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[2][3]
• 1300s – alomyar;^[3][4] alomea in a catechism.^[3][4]
• 1513 – the Livro dos Mártires uses alumiar.^[17]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders Alumiar by Latin illustro and illumino.^[18]
• 1789 – Morais records the farming and engraving senses.^[14]
• 1899 – Figueiredo records the Algarve sense for vines.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. To give light to, illuminate (iluminar); (intransitive) to give light;^[3][9][19] (pronominal) to become lit: Uma vela alumiava a cozinha.^[3][9][19]
2. To light, kindle (a lamp): alumiar o candeeiro.^[3][9]
3. (figurative) To enlighten, instruct;^[3][7][19] (pronominal) to become learned.^[3][7][19]
4. To accompany someone with a light.^[20][13]
5. (Brazil, intransitive) To gleam, shine: Os talheres alumiavam na mesa.^[3][16]
6. (informal) To proclaim, make known to all.^[3][7]
7. (figurative) To adorn, set off.^[3]
8. (Portugal, regional) To dig round (a vine).^[3][15]

Related words

• lume
• iluminar
• luz
• Latin lūmen
• Galician alumear
• Spanish alumbrar

Usage notes

Figueiredo enters a second verb alumiar as a popular corruption of nomear “to name”, and the TLPGP records alumiar o terço in the north of Portugal, explained by its collector from Latin nōmināre.^[15][21]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. alumear
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. alumiar
4. ^ a b c d e Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. alumiar
5. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. alumiar
6. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 372
7. ^ a b c d e f 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. alumiar
8. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. alumiar
9. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. alumiar
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, 342
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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. alumiar
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. alumiar
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, 69
15. ^ a b c d Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. alumiar
16. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda (1975), Novo dicionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, p. 101
17. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. alumiar
18. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. alumiar
19. ^ a b c d Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 522
20. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. alumiar
21. ^ 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. alumiar