amargar

Forms

amargar (first-person singular present amargo, first-person singular preterite amarguei, past participle amargado)^[1] Houaiss records the participle amargado in the 13th century and the infinitive amargar, also spelt amarguar, in the 14th.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin amārico (“to make bitter”), formed in Latin from amārus (“bitter”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Wiktionary analyses the Latin verb as the adjective with the verb suffix -icō, and notes that it is first found in the Old Latin Bible translation known as the Vetus Itala.^[1] Vieira, Figueiredo and Michaelis instead derive the verb within Portuguese from the adjective amargo, which Houaiss and Cunha trace to a Latin *amāricus of the same root.^{[6][7][8][3][9]}

The same Late Latin verb is Galician amargar, Spanish amargar, Catalan amargar, Occitan amargar and Italian amaricare.^[10][11] In Spanish the verb also reshaped the adjective: the old Old Spanish amaro became Spanish amargo under its influence.^[12]

De Vaan finds the comparison with the Sanskrit and Germanic words for “sour”, such as Old English ampre (“sour one”), the most convincing, and these may go back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂em-ro-; a link with Ancient Greek ὠμός (ōmós, “raw”) is weaker in meaning.^[13] Wiktionary gives the root as *h₃em- “bitter, raw”.^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's chronology finds the verb in the Portuguese Fuero Real, where a sinner is to have sempre uyda amargada “an ever embittered life”, and in Pero Menino, who writes of things que amargão “that taste bitter”.^[15] The literal sense of taste and the figurative sense of grief are thus both medieval.^[15][2]

Semantic evolution

Machado quotes the Peregrinação of Fernão Mendes Pinto in the 16th century for something that stank and amargava so that no one could put it in his mouth.^[4] The early dictionaries gloss the verb with Latin amaresco “to grow bitter” (Cardoso 1569, Barbosa 1611, Pereira 1697), and Bluteau adds the sense “to vex, cause sorrow”.^[16][17][18] Morais (1789) adds “to suffer for something”, as in paying with sorrow for a pleasure.^[19]

Vieira collects proverbs with the verb: a verdade amarga “the truth is bitter” from Jorge Ferreira de Vasconcelos, and a homem farto, as cerejas amargam “to a full man cherries taste bitter” from Delicado's Adágios.^[6] Brazilian Portuguese has the phrase de amargar “very hard to bear or to deal with”.^[2]

Timeline

• 13th century – first record of the participle amargado.^[2][3]
• 14th century – the infinitive amargar and the spelling amarguar.^[2]
• 16th century – amargava in the Peregrinação of Fernão Mendes Pinto.^[4]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary renders Amargar with Latin amaresco.^[16]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau gives the senses “to become bitter” and “to vex, grieve”.^[18]
• 1789 – Morais adds “to suffer for something”.^[19]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To taste bitter: Este café amarga muito.^[2][20]
2. (transitive) To make bitter or acrid: O sal a mais amargou o caldo.^[2][21][1]
3. (transitive, figurative) To make painful or hard to bear; to embitter: A doença amargou-lhe a velhice.^[2][21]
4. (transitive, figurative) To suffer, to endure; to pay for something, as an expiation: Ainda há de amargar essa decisão.^[2][20][22]
5. (transitive and pronominal, figurative) To cause bitterness to someone or to oneself; to torment, to grieve.^[2]
6. (Brazil) de amargar: very hard to solve, bear or overcome.^[2]

Related words

• amargo
• amargor
• amargoso
• amargura
• Latin amārus
• Spanish amargar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. amargar
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. amargo
4. ^ a b c Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. amargar
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. amargar
6. ^ 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, 356
7. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 72
8. ^ 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. amargar
9. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. amargo
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 401
11. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. amaricare
12. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 233
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. amarus
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. amargar
16. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. amargar
17. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. amargar
18. ^ 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. amargar
19. ^ 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, 72
20. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. amargar
21. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. amargar
22. ^ 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. amargar