azar

Forms

azar m (plural azares)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Andalusian Arabic الزهر (azzáhr, “die (for gaming)”), from the Arabic article ال (al-) and Arabic زهر (zahr, “flowers; dice”).^{[2][3][4][5][1][6]} Houaiss, Cunha and Machado explain the sense “die” by the flower that was painted on one face of the dice;^[3][4][5][2] Corriente, Pereira and Vicente say the faces were marked with drawings of flowers or with numbers to tell them apart.^[3][4][5][2] Nascentes notes that the vulgar Arabic word for “die” is not securely attested, and rejects the old derivation from the name of a castle in Palestine where the game was said to have been invented.^[7]

The same Arabic word is Spanish azar, Catalan atzar, Italian zara and French hasard; the Spanish word first meant the unlucky face of a die and an unlucky throw.^[8][9][1] The French word was taken through Spanish, according to the DHLF.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record Machado quotes, from a 15th-century chronicle, is about a game: E posto que lamçees azar, nnão podeis sahir do joguo senão com vosa homra “and even if you throw an unlucky throw, you can only leave the game with honour”.^[5] Houaiss and Cunha also date the noun to the 15th century.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Morais (1789) still defines azar as the bad throw at dice, the losing point, and figuratively as misfortune;^[11] ter azar a then meant “to hate”.^[11] Morais (1813) adds tomar azar com alguém “to take a dislike to someone” and the proverb homem velho saco de azares “an old man is a sack of misfortunes”.^[12] Today the main sense is bad luck; the neutral “chance” lives on in jogo de azar “game of chance”.^[3][13] Brazil added the interjection azar! “tough luck!” and, in Rio de Janeiro, a horse not expected to win (azarão).^[3][14] The derivatives azarado, azarar and azarento are 20th-century.^[4]

Timeline

• 15th century – first records, in a chronicle, of an unlucky throw at dice.^[5][3][4]
• 1556 – azar in a private letter.^[15]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as the losing throw at dice and as misfortune.^[11]
• 1813 – Morais records tomar azar com alguém.^[12]
• 1899 – Figueiredo gives the senses “fate” and “unlucky venture”.^[16]
• 20th century – first records of azarado, azarar and azarento.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Bad luck, misfortune; an unlucky event: Que azar, perdemos o comboio!^[3][17][1]
2. Chance (acaso), fortune, a chance event: jogo de azar.^[3][17]
3. (Brazil, Rio de Janeiro) A horse with little chance of winning a race; azarão.^[3][17]

Interjection

1. (Brazil) Expresses resignation to bad luck: “tough luck!”, “too bad!”^[3][1][14]

Word family

• azarado
• azarar
• azarento
• azarão

Related words

• Spanish azar
• French hasard

Usage notes

Houaiss and Aurélio also record a verb azar “to give occasion to, cause;^[3][17][5] (reflexive) to come at the right moment”, formed from azo “occasion” with the suffix -ar, recorded in the 14th century as aazar.^[3][17][5] In the Portuguese East azar was also a coin of Hormuz, from Persian hazār “thousand”, recorded from 1515.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Corriente, Federico; Pereira, Christophe; Vicente, Ángeles (2019), Dictionnaire des emprunts ibéro-romans: emprunts à l'arabe et aux langues du monde islamique (Encyclopédie linguistique d'Al-Andalus 3), Berlin: De Gruyter, p. s.v. atzar
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. azar
4. ^ a b c d e f g Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. azar
5. ^ a b c d e f g Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. azar
6. ^ 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. azar
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 432
9. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. azar
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. hasard
11. ^ 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, 154
12. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 146
13. ^ 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. azar
14. ^ a b Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. azar
15. ^ CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. azar
16. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. azar
17. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. azar
18. ^ Dalgado, Sebastião Rodolfo (1919–1921), Glossário luso-asiático, 2 vols., Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade, p. 1, 72