aturdir

Forms

aturdir (first-person singular present aturdo, first-person singular preterite aturdi, past participle aturdido)^[1] The oldest records have the participle atordido;^[2][3][4] aturdir is first listed by Bluteau in 1712.^[2][3][4] Feijó (1734) gives atordir beside aturdir.^[5]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[2] For Houaiss, Wiktionary and Aurélio it is borrowed from Spanish aturdir (“to stun”), which Corominas derives from tordo (“thrush”), a bird said to gorge itself on grapes and olives and then lose its head.^[2][1][6][7] Machado gives the Spanish source only as a possibility.^[8] The DLP sees a Portuguese formation, from Portuguese a- + tordo + -ir.^[9] The REW puts the Spanish and Catalan verb under Latin turdus (“thrush”), together with Italian stordire and French étourdir.^[10] Spanish first has it as atordir in Berceo, in the first half of the 13th century.^[7][11]

Diez derived it from a Latin verb formed on torpidus (“numb”), and Figueiredo thought of the same word; the REW and Corominas reject this on phonetic grounds.^[12][13][7] Others thought of turbidus (“disturbed”).^[12] Houaiss links the verb to atordoar, whose own origin is also disputed.^[2]

The Latin word goes back to *torzdos and *trosdos, with cognates such as Russian дрозд (drozd) and Lithuanian strazdas.^[14][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's chronology antedates Machado's records with the Crónica Troiana, where a wounded man goes off todo atordido et nõ bem são “all stunned and not well”.^[3] Houaiss also dates atordido to the 14th century.^[2] Machado's earliest example is a 15th-century text in which friars “were so stunned” (asy forom atordidos).^[8]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712) and Feijó (1734) define the verb only as “to cause great wonder or amazement”.^[4][5] Morais (1789) gives first “to disturb the senses” and then “to cause great wonder, fright”.^[15] Vieira adds “to deafen with noise” and, figuratively, “to frighten”.^[16] Aurélio also records the senses “to make the air resound” and “to intimidate”.^[6]

Timeline

• 14th century – the participle atordido in the Crónica Troiana.^[3][2]
• 15th century – atordidos “stunned” of friars.^[8]
• 1712 – Bluteau lists aturdir “to cause great amazement”.^[4][2]
• 1734 – Feijó gives atordir as another form.^[5]
• 1789 – Morais has the sense “to disturb the senses”.^[15]
• 1836 – first record of the noun aturdimento.^[17]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, intransitive and pronominal) To stun, daze; to confuse the senses or the mind, as a blow, noise or drink does; to become dazed.^[2][18][1]
2. (transitive) To astonish, amaze, leave someone speechless.^[2][6][1]
3. (transitive) To deafen; to fill with a loud noise.^[6][19]
4. (transitive) To intimidate, frighten.^[6]

Word family

• aturdido
• aturdimento

Related words

• atordoar
• tordo
• Spanish aturdir

Usage notes

Michaelis treats the verb as defective, without the forms in which the d of the stem is followed by o or a, such as the first person singular of the present;^[19][1] Wiktionary gives the form aturdo.^[19][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. aturdir
3. ^ a b c d 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. atordir
4. ^ a b c d Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. aturdir
5. ^ a b c Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. aturdir
6. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. aturdir
7. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 408
8. ^ a b c Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. aturdir
9. ^ 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. aturdir
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8999
11. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. aturdir
12. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 52
13. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 152
14. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
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, 144
16. ^ 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, 655
17. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. aturdimento
18. ^ 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. aturdir
19. ^ 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. aturdir