assim

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sīc (“thus, so”) with a prefixed ⟨a-⟩, written Old Galician-Portuguese assi in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] Houaiss, Cunha, Nascentes and Aurélio take the ⟨a-⟩ to be the preposition ad (“to, towards”), from a phrase ad sīc.^[2][3][5][6] Wiktionary starts instead from Late Latin ac sīc, with ac (“and, also”).^[1] Machado derives the old form from an older Old Galician-Portuguese si (“so”), from the Latin adverb.^[4] Meyer-Lübke saw in the ⟨a-⟩ the one of the demonstratives, and Corominas, for the Spanish adverb, an extension of the adverb on the model of many adverbs in ⟨a-⟩.^[7][8]

The final nasal of the modern form is a later addition.^[4][2] Corominas explains the ⟨-n⟩ of the Spanish dialect form asín and of the Portuguese word by the analogy of other particles such as non, bien and sin.^[8]

The same Latin adverb, with different first elements, is in Galician así, Spanish así, Catalan així, French ainsi, Italian così and Romanian așa.^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Galician-Portuguese document of 1192 has assi us das sestas com' en outro herdamento “so … as in another estate”.^[9] Latin laws of 1188–1230 already write the Romance adsi (Et si adsi non fecerit “and if he does not do so”).^[4] In the cancioneiros assi means “so, in such a way” and is constant in oaths such as assi Deus m'ampar “so may God protect me”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The medieval poets used assi... que as a conjunction of result, “in such a way that”.^[9] Morais (1789) records assim with the subjunctive to express a wish, as in assim te eu veja “so may I see you”.^[10] The informal use with de, “full of”, usually accompanied by a gesture of the fingers, is recorded in both Brazil and Portugal.^[2][11] The repeated assim, assim “so-so” is Brazilian;^[12][13] Aulete notes that Portugal says assim e assim.^[12][13] The word passed into Macanese as assí.^[1]

Timeline

• 1188–1230 – Latin laws write adsi.^[4]
• 1192 – assi in a Galician-Portuguese document.^[9][2]
• 13th century – asse Deus m'ajude in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[9]
• 14th century – assi in the Trasladação de S. Nicolau.^[14]
• 15th century – first records of assim; the CTA has it in the Livro das tres vertudes (witness after 1450).^[2][15]
• 17th century – assi still in use, beside assim.^[4]
• 1697 – Pereira translates Assim as Latin ita, ut.^[16]
• 1789 – Morais records assim with the subjunctive of wishing.^[10]

Meanings

Adverb

1. In this, that or such a way: Corta o pão assim, ao meio.^[2][17][1]
2. In the same way, likewise.^[6][11]
3. (informal, with de) Full of, crowded with, usually with a gesture: O mercado estava assim de turistas.^[2][11][1]
4. With the subjunctive, expresses a wish.^[18][13]

Adjective

1. Like that, of that kind: Nunca vi um inverno assim.^[2][11][18]

Conjunction

1. Therefore, so, consequently.^[18][11][17]

Related words

• sim
• Latin sīc
• Galician así

Usage notes

Common set phrases are assim como “just as; as well as”, assim que “as soon as”, assim seja “so be it, amen” and como assim? “what do you mean?”.^[11][17]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. assim
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. assim
4. ^ a b c d e f Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. assim
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. assim
6. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. assim
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7892
8. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 376
9. ^ 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. assi
10. ^ 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, 131
11. ^ a b c d e f Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1013
12. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. assim, assim
13. ^ 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. assim
14. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. assi
15. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. assim
16. ^ Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. assim
17. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. assim
18. ^ a b c 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. assim