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Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word andar

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1200s Galician documents and the Cantigas de Santa Maria More words from the 13th century
Inherited from
Latin andare

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /ɐ̃ˈda(ʁ)/, [ɐ̃ˈda(h)][1]
  • São-Paulo: /ɐ̃ˈda(ɾ)/[1]
  • Rio-de-Janeiro: /ɐ̃ˈda(ʁ)/, [ɐ̃ˈda(χ)][1]
  • Caipira: /ɐ̃ˈda(ɻ)/[1]

Forms

andar (first-person singular present ando, first-person singular preterite andei, past participle andado)[1]

Etymology

It is written Old Galician-Portuguese andar in the oldest texts, and Latin charters of the 11th century already have it as inherited from Medieval Latin andāre.[1][2] Its origin is disputed.[3][4][1]

Cunha considers the most likely source *ambitō (“to go around”), a frequentative of Latin ambiō (“to go round”).[3] Machado finds it the more satisfactory explanation at least for Portuguese, Spanish and Italian, as do Nascentes's fuller dictionary, the DLP and Lorenzo.[3][4][5][6][2] Houaiss, Aurélio and Nascentes's short dictionary derive it instead from ambulō (“to walk”), pronounced with /l/ assimilated to the closure of the /m/.[7][8][9] Corominas argues for that view: a careless pronunciation of the verb, worn down by its constant use in commands and imperatives, gave a Romance *amlō, the source also of French aller, while a variant with /mn/ explains Catalan anar and Occitan anar.[10][11] Lorenzo judged this more hypothetical and artificial than the frequentative.[2] Wiktionary leaves the origin open, and notes that the Latin form is recorded from 801 in southern Italy.[1]

The verb is shared with Galician andar, Spanish andar and Italian andare; the Spanish one is first recorded in the second half of the 10th century, in the Glosas de Silos.[10][1] The Latin verb for walking itself survives in Portuguese and Galician ambrar “to amble”.[12][13]

In 1871 Vieira already called the etymology much discussed, citing Du Cange's 12th-century documents with the Latin form and Littré's two sources for the Romance verbs.[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Latin charter of 1082 has et andemus unus ad alios cum ueritate “and let us go to one another in truth”.[2] In Galician documents the verb appears from the 13th century, among them one of 1228 with e sobre cauallo andar “and to ride on horseback”, and the dating clauses of 1258–1261 count the dias andados “days gone” of the month.[2] The Cantigas de Santa Maria use it for walking, viron angeos andar / ontr'a gent'assũada “they saw angels walk among the gathered people”, and Machado quotes a cantiga of Mẽen Rodriguiz Tenoyro, Mui trist e sempre trist andei “very sad and always sad I went about”.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Already in the medieval texts the verb means not only “to walk” and “to travel” but “to be” with an adjective (ando tan coitado “I am so troubled”), “to exist”, “to strive for” (andar por), “to pursue” (andar apos), and it forms progressives with the gerund (o andava buscando “he was looking for him”).[2] The infinitive was used as a noun, “gait, speed”, as in a mays andar “at full speed”.[2] Houaiss dates the noun to the 14th century.[7]

The sense “storey of a building” is dated 1598 by Houaiss, and Machado quotes it from the Cartas do Japão of the 16th century: N'esta sala, que he o primeiro andar “in this hall, which is the first floor”.[7][4] Morais in 1813 defines it as a row of rooms on one level.[15] Brazilian Portuguese uses andar com for having sexual relations with someone.[16][7] Italian andante came back as a musical term in 1858.[3]

Timeline

  • 1082 – andemus in a Latin charter.[2]
  • 1228 – e sobre cauallo andar in a Galician document.[2]
  • 13th century – the cantigas use the verb;[2][3] andança and andante “walking” are recorded in the same century.[2][3]
  • 1319 – áándar in a Portuguese document.[4]
  • 14th century – first record of the noun “gait” and of andadura and andamento.[7][3]
  • 1430 – the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437) uses the verb.[17]
  • 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary glosses it with Latin ambulo.[18]
  • 1598 – first date of the sense “storey of a building”.[7]
  • 1712 – first record of andarilho “great walker”.[3]
  • 1813 – Morais defines andar “a row of rooms on one level”.[15]
  • 1858 – the musical term andante is taken from Italian.[3]
  • 1871 – Vieira calls the etymology much discussed.[14]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To walk, to move on foot: o bebé já anda.[7][19]
  2. To move or go, under one's own power or not; of a ship, to sail.[7]
  3. Of a machine, to run or work.[7][19]
  4. Of time, to pass.[7][20]
  5. To make progress: o processo andou depressa.[7]
  6. To behave, to act in a certain way.[7]
  7. To travel in or on: andar de comboio, andar a cavalo.[7]
  8. To go about with someone;[7][16] (Brazil) to have a sexual relationship with.[7][16]
  9. To hurry; in the imperative, “come on!”.[7]
  10. To be around a figure: anda pelos quarenta anos.[7]
  11. To travel through; to cover on foot: andou dez quilómetros.[7][20]
  12. With an adjective, to be, to feel (for a while): ando cansado.[7][8]
  13. (basketball) To travel, to move the pivot foot without dribbling.[7]

Noun

  1. gait, the act or manner of walking.[7][6]
  2. Course, progress: com o andar dos anos.[7]
  3. A storey or floor of a building.[7][6][21]
  4. (Portugal) A flat in a building.[6]

Word family

  • andaço
  • andada
  • andadeira
  • andadeiro
  • andador
  • andadura
  • andamento
  • andança
  • andarejo
  • andarilho
  • andeiro
  • andejar
  • andejo
  • desandar
  • andante
  • tresandar
  • ambrar
  • ambulante
  • Galician andar

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. andar
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. andar
  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. andar
  5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 29
  6. ^ a b c d 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. andar
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. andar
  8. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. andar
  9. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. andar
  10. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 256
  11. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. andar
  12. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. ambulare
  13. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. ambulare
  14. ^ 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, 410
  15. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 131
  16. ^ a b c 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. andar
  17. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. andar
  18. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. andar
  19. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. andar
  20. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 639
  21. ^ 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. andar

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Andar.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/andar. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

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