baixar

Forms

baixar (first-person singular present baixo, first-person singular preterite baixei, past participle baixado)^[1] Houaiss records beyxar and bayxar in the 14th century, and the Cantigas de Santa Maria also have baxar.^[2][3] Barbosa (1611) writes abaxar, and Feijó (1734) rejects the spelling baichar.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *bassiō (“to lower”), written Old Galician-Portuguese baixar in the oldest texts.^[2][6][7][1] Houaiss and Cunha connect the verb with the Late Latin adjective bassus (“short and stout”), the source of baixo.^[2][6] Machado compares the pair with *altiō, from altus (“high”), the source of alçar.^[4] Wiktionary adds that the word can be analysed within Portuguese as a derivative of the adjective with the verb ending -ar, the derivation that Vieira and Figueiredo gave.^[1][8][9]

The same Vulgar Latin verb is Galician baixar, Spanish bajar, Catalan baixar and French baisser.^[1][10][11] The DHLF notes that the Romance languages set it against the verb for “to raise”.^[11]

In the medieval glosses the Late Latin adjective means “fat, stout” and “short”.^[12][13] Its origin is not known: Wiktionary lists a borrowing from Greek, from Oscan or from a Celtic language as possibilities.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's chronology moves Machado's 16th-century date back to the Cantigas de Santa Maria of the 13th century: baixaron a vea and a man who went about sempre baixada a testa “always with his head bowed”.^[3] Cunha also dates the verb to the 13th century.^[6] The figurative “to humble” is just as old: a cantiga has ca vimos melhores ca vós baixar “for we have seen better men than you brought low”, and the Crónica Troiana speaks of humbling the pride of enemies.^[14][3]

Semantic evolution

The Crónica Troiana already uses the reflexive of the moon going down below the horizon.^[3] Folqman (1755) gives “to come down from a place” and the ebbing of the tide.^[15] Figueiredo (1899) records “to lose prestige” and the use of orders issued by the government, which still baixam to the offices below.^[9][2]

In Brazil the verb took on several new senses: to be admitted to hospital, the descent of a spirit or orixá into a medium, and, in slang, to turn up somewhere.^[2][1] In computing it translates English download.^[16][2] In the Plate region of southern Brazil it also means to unsaddle a horse and to dismount.^[17]

Timeline

• 13th century – the Cantigas de Santa Maria use baixar and baxar.^[3][6]
• 14th century – the spellings beyxar and bayxar.^[2]
• 16th century – the Cathecismo Romano speaks of humbling the pride of the rich.^[4]
• 1734 – Feijó accepts baixar and abaixar and rejects baichar.^[5]
• 1755 – Folqman records the ebbing of the tide.^[15]
• 1899 – Figueiredo records orders that are sent down from the authorities.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To lower; to bring or put down: baixou a bandeira.^[2][18][1]
2. (intransitive) To go or come down; to descend.^[19][20][1]
3. To bow or incline (the head, the eyes).^[18][19]
4. To reduce, or become lower, in height, value, intensity or price: a febre baixou.^[19][21][1]
5. To issue an order or regulation to subordinates or lower offices.^[2][18]
6. (law) To send a case back, or be sent back, to a lower court.^[2][21]
7. (intransitive) To lose influence or standing.^[2][21]
8. (intransitive) To set (of the sun).^[2]
9. (music) To transpose into a lower key.^[16]
10. (reflexive) To stoop;^[21][20] (figurative) to humble oneself.^[21][20]
11. (Brazil) To be admitted to hospital.^[2]
12. (Brazil, religion) To manifest itself in a medium (of a spirit or orixá).^[2][1]
13. (chiefly Brazil, computing) To download.^[2][16][1]
14. (Brazil, slang) To turn up at a place, often suddenly.^[1]

Word family

• rebaixar
• baixada
• baixamento

Related words

• baixo
• abaixar
• baixa
• Spanish bajar
• French baisser

Usage notes

Houaiss treats the verb as equivalent to abaixar in its basic senses;^[2][4][5] Machado discusses the two together, and Feijó (1734) accepted both.^[2][4][5] Set phrases include baixar a cabeça “to obey, submit” and baixar a grimpa “to climb down, submit”.^[18][21]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. baixar
3. ^ a b c d e 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. baixar
4. ^ a b c d e Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. abaixar
5. ^ a b c d 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. baixar
6. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. baixar
7. ^ 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. baixar
8. ^ 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, 707
9. ^ a b c Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 166
10. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. bajar
11. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. baisser
12. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. s.v. bassus
13. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. bassus
14. ^ 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. baixar
15. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. baixar
16. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. baixar
17. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. baixar
18. ^ a b c d 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. baixar
19. ^ a b c 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. baixar
20. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. baixar
21. ^ a b c d e f Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1213