arrumar

Forms

arrumar (first-person singular present arrumo, first-person singular preterite arrumei, past participle arrumado)^[1] The first record, of 1456, is spelt arumou.^[2] Houaiss gives arumar as the 15th-century form.^[3]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[3] Machado, Cunha, Michaelis and the DLP take it as borrowed from Old French arrumer (“to stow cargo”), a verb of the French seafaring vocabulary related to the Germanic word for “room, space”.^[2][4][5][6] Others analyse it as a local formation from Portuguese a- + rumo + -ar, “to give a course”, as Figueiredo did in 1899.^[3][7] Houaiss, Machado and Cunha add that it may have been influenced by arrimar (“to lean, prop”).^[3][2][4]

The DHLF explains the French verb as formed on the nautical noun Middle French run (“bottom of the hold”) (1386), of the Germanic family of the English word room; arrumer was used from 1386 to the 18th century for stowing a cargo and then for arranging in general, and the DHLF names it as the source of the Portuguese, Spanish and Catalan verbs.^[8] In the modern language the form French arrimer won out, keeping the nautical sense.^[8][6] Already in 1712–1728 Bluteau derived the Portuguese word from the French name for the space in a ship's hold where the cargo is stowed in order.^[9]

The Germanic word is Proto-Germanic *rūmą (“room, space”), continued in Old English rūm, Old Norse rúm and Old High German rūm.^[10][1] The DCECH also takes Spanish arrumar “to stow cargo” from the French verb and keeps it apart from arrimar, with which it was later confused.^[11] The DLE derives the French verb from Dutch instead.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Machado's first record, from the royal chancery documents of 1456, uses the verb of loading a ship: a cargo of wine and meat that someone arumou na naao “stowed in the ship”.^[2] Vieira quotes Zurara's chronicle of King John I, where the sailors were weary of stowing so many flasks.^[13]

Semantic evolution

From stowing a ship's cargo the verb spread to putting anything in order: Cardoso's dictionary of 1569 gives it the Latin dispono “to arrange”, and Bluteau gives the examples of linen, books and firewood.^[14][9] Vieira describes the nautical sense as the original one and the general sense of putting away or arranging as an extension.^[13] Morais in 1789 also gives senses tied to rumo “course”: to mark the bearings of lands on a chart and to point a ship's bow in a given direction.^[15]

The modern language added figurative and informal senses: to find someone a job or a marriage, to set something aside, and, in European Portuguese, to put someone out of action or in trouble.^[3][6] Brazilian Portuguese uses it for getting or obtaining something and for causing trouble, and the Beira dialect of Portugal for throwing.^[3][16] In the Alentejo, dialect surveys record it as “to lean against” and “to approach, court”, a sense the TLPGP compilers take from arrimar.^[17]

Timeline

• 1456 – first record, arumou, in the royal chancery documents.^[2][3]
• 1569 – Cardoso's Portuguese–Latin dictionary lists arrumar.^[14]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau derives the word from French rum, the ship's hold.^[9]
• 1789 – Morais records senses of charting bearings and steering.^[15]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira treats the nautical sense as the first.^[13]
• 1899 – Figueiredo derives the verb from rumo.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To put in order; to tidy or arrange: Arrumei a cozinha antes do jantar.^[3][18][1]
2. To put in its proper place; to stow or put away.^[16][19][1]
3. (nautical) To stow the cargo of a ship.^[5][3]
4. To steer or direct (a ship) on a course.^[3][18]
5. To prepare or organise; to settle or resolve (a matter).^[3][6]
6. To find a job or position for;^[3][18] (reflexive) to get a job.^[3][18]
7. To put aside; to give up; to stop using.^[3][6]
8. (reflexive) To get oneself ready, especially by dressing.^[3]
9. (reflexive, informal) To get married; to settle down.^[3][6]
10. (Brazil, informal) To get or obtain; to find (a way, a pretext).^[3][18][1]
11. (Brazil) To cause (trouble).^[3]
12. (Portugal, informal) To put (someone) out of action or in a difficult position.^[3][6]
13. (Portugal) To park (a vehicle).^[19]

Word family

• arrumação
• arrumadeira
• arrumadela
• arrumador
• desarrumação
• desarrumar

Related words

• rumo
• arrimar
• French arrimer
• Spanish arrumar

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 Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. arrumar
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. arrumar
4. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. arrumar
5. ^ 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. arrumar
6. ^ a b c d e f g 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. arrumar
7. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. arrumar
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. arrimer
9. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. arrumar
10. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 309
11. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 355
12. ^ 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. arrumar
13. ^ a b c 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, 586
14. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. arrumar
15. ^ 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, 124
16. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. arrumar
17. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. arrumar
18. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. arrumar
19. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 965