ater

Forms

ater (first-person singular present atenho, first-person singular preterite ative, past participle atido)^[1] The 15th-century texts write both ater and ateer.^[2] The verb is conjugated like ter (atenho, ative, atido).^[3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin attineō (“to hold near, keep back, detain”), also written adtineō, formed from ad- and teneō (“to hold”).^{[2][4][5][6][1][7]} The Latin verb also meant “to concern, belong to”.^[4][5]

The same Latin verb is Spanish atener, Catalan atenir-se, Italian attenere and Old French atenir.^[8][9] Galician has the same verb, Galician ater.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the verb to the 15th century, from Cunha's medieval index.^[2] Cunha's own first date is the 16th century, and Machado quotes Miguel Leitão de Andrade's Miscelânea of that century for the reflexive, porém m'atenho antes com quem isto assi o crê “but I rather hold with whoever believes this”.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

From “to hold back” the reflexive ater-se came to mean “to lean on” and “to rely on, keep to”: Vieira (1871) defines it as “to lean, to conform” and “to trust in”.^[10] Today the transitive sense “to stop, hold back” is rare, and Priberam gives the verb as reflexive only, “to rely on, to keep to, to be limited to”.^[2][11] In Trás-os-Montes the verb is used for putting a calf to suck at the cow.^[12]

Timeline

• 15th century – ater and ateer.^[2]
• 16th century – the reflexive in Miguel Leitão de Andrade's Miscelânea.^[5]
• 1813 – the adjective atinente “pertaining”, of the same Latin verb.^[4]
• 1871 – Vieira records the reflexive senses and notes that Bluteau had the word.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, rare) To stop, to hold back: Um ruído ateve-o à porta.^[2][13]
2. (reflexive) To lean on, to hold on to for support.^[2][13][14]
3. (reflexive) To keep to, to limit oneself to: ater-se aos factos.^[2][11][1]
4. (reflexive) To rely on, to put one's trust in.^[11][14][3]
5. (Trás-os-Montes) To put (a calf) to suck at the cow.^[12]

Related words

• ter
• deter
• atinente
• atinência
• Latin attineō
• Spanish atener

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. ater
3. ^ 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. ater
4. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. ater
5. ^ a b c d Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. ater
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. ater
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. attineō
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. attinere
9. ^ 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. atener
10. ^ 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, 637
11. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. ater
12. ^ a b Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. ater
13. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. ater
14. ^ 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. ater