arder

Forms

arder (first-person singular present ardo, first-person singular preterite ardi, past participle ardido)^[1] Houaiss records the 13th-century forms arder, the participle ardudo and the subjunctive arça.^[2] The Cantigas de Santa Maria have both arda and arça for “may it burn”.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ārdeō (“to burn, be on fire”), written Old Galician-Portuguese arder in the oldest texts.^[2][4][5][1] The same Latin verb is Galician arder, Spanish arder, Italian ardere, French ardre and Romanian arde.^[6][1]

In Latin the verb is derived from āridus (“dry”), from āreō (“to be dry”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Indo-European *h₂eh₁s- (“to be dry”).^[7] Wiktionary compares the pair with audeō beside avidus.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Machado's first record is from the royal Inquirições of 1258: someone must give every year una candea que arza cada dia, “a candle to burn every day”.^[5] The Cantigas de Santa Maria use the verb for fire and for the burning of a foot, and also for a knight who burned with lust.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense “to be consumed by a passion” is as old as the literal one: the Crónica Troiana says that someone todo ardia con mao talent, “was all aflame with anger”, and the troubadours burned with love.^[3][8] The Cantigas also use it transitively, of wax that is burned in Mary's house.^[3]

Bluteau (1712) adds “to shine like a flame”, said of rubies.^[9] Morais (1813) has “to blush” and “to suffer the heat of passions”: arder em ira, desejos.^[10] Vieira (1871) adds “to itch”, “to squander” and “to go bad by fermenting”.^[11] Today the verb also means to sting, to taste hot, and in Portugal informally to be spent quickly.^[12][13] Wiktionary marks the sense “to be in flames” as chiefly European;^[1] Brazilian usage prefers queimar.^[1]

Timeline

• 1258 – arza “may burn” in the royal Inquirições.^[5]
• 13th century – the verb in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[3][2]
• 1513 – arder in the Livro dos Mártires.^[14]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses Arder with Latin ardeo and flagro.^[15]
• 1712 – Bluteau records “to shine like a flame”.^[9]
• 1813 – Morais records arder em ira.^[10]
• 1871 – Vieira records “to itch” and “to go bad”.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To burn, to be in flames; to be consumed by fire.^[2][16][1]
2. (intransitive) To be combustible: Esta lenha arde depressa.^[2][16]
3. (intransitive) To be lit, of a lamp or candle; to shine like a flame.^[2][17]
4. (intransitive) To be very hot; to have a fever (febre): arder em febre.^[18][1]
5. (intransitive) To sting or smart; to give a burning sensation.^[18][1]
6. (intransitive) To taste hot or pungent.^[2][19][1]
7. (intransitive, figurative) To be consumed by a passion such as love, anger or desire: arder de impaciência.^[16][17]
8. (intransitive) To go bad or rancid.^[17][13]
9. (Portugal, informal) To be spent or used up quickly.^[12]

Word family

• ardência
• árdego

Related words

• ardente
• ardor
• Latin ārdeō
• Spanish arder

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. arder
3. ^ a b c d e 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. arder
4. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. arder
5. ^ a b c Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. arder
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. ardere
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. arder
9. ^ 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. arder
10. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 174
11. ^ 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, 540
12. ^ 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. arder
13. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 873
14. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. arder
15. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. arder
16. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. arder
17. ^ a b c 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. arder
18. ^ 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. arder
19. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. arder