avir

Forms

avir (first-person singular present avenho, first-person singular preterite avim, past participle avindo)^[1] Old forms are auĩir and auijr (13th century), aveir (14th century) and avenhir.^[2][3] The verb is conjugated like vir (avenho, avim, avindo).^[4][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin adveniō (“to come to, arrive”), formed from ad- and veniō (“to come”), written Old Galician-Portuguese aviir in the cantigas.^{[5][2][3][6][1][7][8]} The learned doublet of the same Latin verb is advir.^[5][2][1]

The same Latin verb is Spanish avenir, Catalan avenir, Italian avvenire and French avenir.^[9][10] García de Diego lists Old Galician-Portuguese advir as the old form and the present verb as Portuguese and Galician.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the cantigas aviir had two senses: “to happen”, as in Afonso Fernandez Cubel's de como mi ora con el-Rei aveo “how it went with me and the King”, and, reflexive or with con, “to come to an agreement with someone”, as in Afonso X's pero querrei-mi avĩir / con el “yet I will come to terms with him”.^[8][12] Cunha dates the verb to the 13th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Viterbo glosses the old verb as “to happen”.^[13] Bluteau, Morais and Vieira mark that sense as obsolete and quote Fernão Lopes for it, qualquer cousa que avir podesse “anything that might happen”.^[14][15][16] Morais (1789) gives first the sense “to bring people at odds to an agreement”, from the Ordenações, and the reflexive “to agree with someone”.^[15] The modern verb keeps these: “to reconcile” and, reflexive, “to manage, get along, sort things out”, as in lá se avenham “let them sort it out between themselves”.^[5][17][4] Its opposite is desavir.^[4][1]

Timeline

• 13th century – auĩir, auijr in the cantigas, “to happen” and “to agree”.^[2][8]
• 14th century – the form aveir.^[3]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau marks the verb as obsolete in the sense “to happen”.^[14]
• 1789 – Morais records “to bring to an agreement” and the reflexive.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To reconcile, to bring into agreement: tentou avir os dois irmãos.^[5][18][1]
2. (transitive) To arrange, to agree on.^[18]
3. (reflexive) To come to an understanding with someone; to settle one's differences.^[5][19][1]
4. (reflexive) To manage, to make do, to get out of a difficulty as best one can.^[5][18][19]
5. (intransitive, obsolete) To happen.^[20][19][1]

Word family

• desavir

Related words

• advir
• vir
• Latin adveniō
• Spanish avenir

Usage notes

Lá se avenham or lá vos avinde is a familiar way of washing one's hands of a matter.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. avir
3. ^ a b c Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. avir
4. ^ 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. avir
5. ^ a b c d e f Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. avir
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. avir
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. adveniō
8. ^ a b c 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. aviir
9. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 55
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. advenire
11. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. advenire
12. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. aviir
13. ^ Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 152
14. ^ 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. avir
15. ^ a b c 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, 150
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, 680
17. ^ 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. avir
18. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. avir
19. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1157
20. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. avir