atravessar

Forms

atravessar (first-person singular present atravesso, first-person singular preterite atravessei, past participle atravessado)^[1]

Etymology

According to Houaiss it is inherited from Late Latin trānsversō (“to cross”) with the prefix ad-.^[2] Wiktionary takes it from the Late Latin verb without the prefix.^[1] The DLP also derives it from the Late Latin verb.^[3] Machado and Aurélio instead form it in Portuguese from través “crosswise”, and Porto from the prefix a- and the older verb travessar, which the Cantigas de Santa Maria use for a needle stuck across a throat.^[4][5][6][7] The Meyer-Lübke dictionary lists the Portuguese verb, with and without the prefix, “to lay across”, among the outcomes of the Latin verb, beside Italian traversare, French traverser, Catalan travessar and Spanish atravesar.^[8]

The Late Latin verb is formed on Latin trānsversus (“lying across, crosswise”), which is the participle of trānsvertō (“to turn across”), from trāns- and vertō (“to turn”).^[1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Latin charter of 986 already has atrauesa illa carreira antiqua “it crosses the old road”, in a boundary description.^[4][2] Cunha dates the Portuguese verb to the 13th century, with the senses “to put across” and “to cross over”.^[10] The Crónica Troiana of the 14th century has atrauessar for passing right through the enemy ranks.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau in 1712 gives the two basic senses, to set something so that it lies across a space (beams across a house) and to pass from one side to the other (a square, a river).^[12] Morais in 1789 adds “to oppose” obstacles, quoting a chronicle on hindrances that the world put in the way of the Gospel.^[13] Vieira lists the sense “to run through with a weapon” and quotes João de Barros's Décadas.^[14]

A commercial sense, to buy up goods in order to sell them dearer, is recorded by Silva Bastos and still by Porto, and gave the noun atravessador “middleman, profiteer”.^[15][6][16] At sea the verb means to bring a ship to, turning her side to the wind.^[17][18] Figuratively one atravessa a time or a crisis, living through it.^[2][18]

Timeline

• 986 – atrauesa in a Latin boundary charter.^[4]
• 13th century – Cunha's date for the verb.^[10]
• 14th century – atrauessar in the Crónica Troiana.^[11][2]
• 15th century – the spelling atreuessar and the noun atrauesamento.^[2][19]
• 1628 – first record of atravessador.^[16]
• 1712 – Bluteau gives the senses “to set across” and “to cross”.^[12]
• 1789 – Morais adds “to oppose, hinder”.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To put across, to lay crosswise or obliquely.^[2][5][1]
2. (transitive) To cross, to go from one side to the other of (a street, a river, a bridge).^[2][5][1]
3. (transitive) To pierce, to pass right through (with a blade, a nail).^[2][20][1]
4. (transitive, figurative) To go through, to live through (a period, a crisis); to endure.^[2][6][1]
5. (transitive) To stand in the way of, to obstruct or thwart.^[17][18]
6. (transitive) To buy up (goods) to resell them dearer; to monopolize.^[6][1]
7. (nautical) To bring (a ship) to, turning her side to the wind and sea.^[17][18]
8. (reflexive) atravessar-se: to put oneself in the way; to intrude or interfere.^[6][1]

Word family

• atravessado
• atravessador
• atravessamento

Related words

• através
• travessa
• travessão
• travesseiro
• travessia
• travesso
• través
• Latin trānsversus
• Spanish atravesar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. atravessar
3. ^ 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. atravessar
4. ^ a b c Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. atravessar
5. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. atravessar
6. ^ a b c d e Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1085
7. ^ 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. travessar
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8859
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. transversus
10. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. atravessar
11. ^ a b 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. atrauessar
12. ^ 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. atravessar
13. ^ 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, 141
14. ^ 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, 646
15. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. atravessar
16. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. atravessador
17. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. atravessar
18. ^ a b c d 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. atravessar
19. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. atravessamento
20. ^ 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. atravessar