aquele

Forms

aquele (feminine aquela, masculine plural aqueles, feminine plural aquelas)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese also had aaquel, aquel and aquelha, and the 15th century aqueel.^[2] Before the spelling reforms the word was written aquelle.^[1][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *eccum ille (“look, that one”), from the Latin particle eccum (“here he is”) and the pronoun ille (“that”).^[4][5][6][1] Houaiss writes the Vulgar Latin form *accuille, with a particle *accu- from ecce (“behold”) and the accusative hunc (“this”), influenced by atque (“and”).^[2] The Oxford Latin Dictionary agrees on the particle and on its accusative.^[7]

Meyer-Lübke started from the conjunction instead of the particle;^[5][8] Leite de Vasconcelos objected that the demonstrative adverbs are formed like the pronouns, and that Galician eiqui points to the particle rather than the conjunction.^[5][8] Bourciez assumed a blend of the two, while Nunes saw a change of unstressed initial e- to a- before a velar.^[8]

The same Latin phrase is Galician aquel, Spanish aquel, Catalan aquell and Romanian acel, and without the a- Italian quello.^[9][8][1] The neuter aquilo continues the same particle with the neuter illud.^[4][5] The Latin pronoun comes from Old Latin olle, and Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“beyond, other”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the form aquelias to 1152 after Machado, who quotes it from the testament of King Afonso II: agia a meiadade de todas aquelias cousas movils “let him have half of all those movable things”.^[2][5] Machado dates the same testament to 1214 when he quotes aquilo from it.^[5] The masculine aquele is recorded from the 13th century, in a cantiga of Pero Garcia Burgales (aquele dia “that day”).^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

The pronoun has always pointed at what is far from both the speaker and the listener, in space or in time, as opposed to este and esse.^[2][11] In writing it refers to the first of two things just named, este to the second.^[2] The informal language uses it for something remarkable or indescribable, as in foi aquele abraço, a use Michaelis quotes from Eça de Queirós.^[2][12] As a masculine noun it stands for a person who cannot or should not be named.^[2][13]

The neuter aquelo of the old language gave way to aquilo, apparently in the 14th century;^[5] Machado finds the reasons for the change not yet clear.^[5]

Timeline

• 1152 – Houaiss's and Machado's date for aquelias.^[2][5]
• 1214 – aquilo and aquelias in the testament of Afonso II.^[5]
• 13th century – aquele, aquel and aquelha.^[2][4]
• c. 1350 – first record in the CTA corpus, in the Trasladação de S. Nicolau.^[14]
• 1569 – aquella in a law text.^[3]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. that, that one: a person or thing far from both the speaker and the listener, in space or time.^[2][15][1]
2. The one, the person (who): introduces a relative clause in a general statement.^[2][11]
3. (informal) A remarkable, excellent or indescribable thing: aquele abraço.^[2][12]
4. The former, of two things just named, opposed to este.^[2]

Noun

1. A person whose name is unknown or should not be said.^[2][13]

Related words

• aquilo
• este
• esse
• ali
• lá
• Galician aquel

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 m n o Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. aquele
3. ^ a b NEHiLP – Núcleo de Apoio à Pesquisa em Etimologia e História da Língua Portuguesa, Universidade de São Paulo, DELPo: Dicionário Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa (online database), p. s.v. aquele
4. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. aquele
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. aquele
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. aquele
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. eccum
8. ^ a b c d Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. s.v. aquele
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. eccum
10. ^ 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. aquele
11. ^ 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. aquele
12. ^ a b 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. aquele
13. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. aquele
14. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. aquele
15. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. aquele