amanhecer

Forms

amanhecer (first-person singular present amanheço, first-person singular preterite amanheci, past participle amanhecido)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote manheecer (1344), amaneecer, amaesçer and ameesçer.^[2][3]

Etymology

Houaiss and the dictionaries of the Academia, Priberam and Porto Editora analyse it as from Portuguese a- + manhã + -ecer, that is “to become morning”.^[2][4][5][6] Cunha traces it instead to Vulgar Latin *admānēscō, a Hispanic form, influenced by manhã.^[3] Nascentes, Aurélio and Wiktionary also start from the Vulgar Latin verb.^[7][8][1] That verb is built on ad- and a verb formed on the adverb Latin māne (“in the morning”), the source of the Portuguese noun.^[1][9]

The parallel forms are Spanish amanecer and Galician amencer.^[9][1]

The nominalised infinitive, the noun for “the dawn”, is the same word.^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first date is 1344, from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese, in the form manheecer.^[2] The Crónica Troiana says of a day that it dawned to the misfortune of the Greeks (aquel dia amaesçera por mal de gregos).^[10] Machado quotes a 15th-century text: Des que o dia veo, e começou de amanhecer, “when day came and it began to dawn”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

In the oldest records the verb is impersonal, “to dawn”.^[10][2] Bluteau (1712) adds its use for a person who does something early, amanheci hoje na feira “I was at the fair at daybreak”.^[12] Morais (1813) lists “to be found in the morning” (amanhecerão mortos, “they were found dead in the morning”), “to stay awake till morning” and the old phrase amanhecer Deos com alguém, “God being kind to someone”.^[13] Vieira (1871) quotes Padre Delicado's proverb Amanhecerá, far-nos-ha Deus mercê and calls the reflexive “to prosper” old.^[14]

The noun use, “the dawn” and figuratively “the beginning of something”, is in the original Caldas Aulete.^[15] In the River Plate region of Brazil the verb also means to stay up all night doing something.^[16]

Timeline

• 1344 – first record, as manheecer.^[2]
• 14th century – amaneecer, amanhecer, amaesçer and ameesçer.^[2][3]
• 15th century – começou de amanhecer in a text Machado quotes.^[11]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses it with Latin lucescit and diluculat.^[17]
• 1712 – Bluteau records the personal use, “to be somewhere at daybreak”.^[12]
• 1813 – Morais lists the reflexive amanhecer-se as little used.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. (impersonal) To dawn: for the morning to break, for day to begin.^[2][8][1]
2. Of a day, to begin in a certain way: amanheceu um dia de chuva.^[2][8]
3. (figurative) To be or feel in a certain state in the morning, or to wake up so: amanheci com febre.^[2][8][1]
4. (figurative) To be in a given place at daybreak: amanhecemos no Porto.^[2][15]
5. (figurative) To begin, to appear.^[4][5]

Noun

1. daybreak, the break of day: ao amanhecer.^[2][5][1]
2. (figurative) The beginning or origin of something.^[2][6]

Related words

• manhã
• Galician amencer
• Spanish amanecer

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. amanhecer
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. manhã
4. ^ 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. amanhecer
5. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. amanhecer
6. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 543
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. amanhecer
8. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. amanhecer
9. ^ a b 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. amanecer
10. ^ 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. amaesçer
11. ^ a b Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. amanhecer
12. ^ 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. amanhecer
13. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 114
14. ^ 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, 352
15. ^ a b 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. amanhecer
16. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. amanhecer
17. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. amanhecer