bastar

Forms

bastar (first-person singular present basto, first-person singular preterite bastei, past participle bastado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *bastō (“to carry, bear; to suffice”), which Houaiss, Aurélio and Corominas trace to Ancient Greek βαστάζω (bastázō, “to lift and carry a burden”).^[2][3][4][1] Cunha, the DLP and the Porto dictionary call the Latin verb medieval.^[5][6][7] In medieval Spanish the verb also had senses nearer the Greek, such as “to resist” and “to give out”.^[4]

The same verb is Galician bastar, Spanish bastar, Catalan bastar, Occitan bastar and Italian bastare.^[4][1] García de Diego finds the Latin verb in the sense “to carry, lead” in glosses of the 4th century, and notes that Gamillscheg derived the Italian and Spanish verbs for “to suffice” from it.^[8]

Not every scholar has accepted the Greek source: Meyer-Lübke thought the origin unknown, perhaps connected with Spanish bastir (“to equip”), as Nascentes reports.^[9] Vieira took the Portuguese verb from Italian, and Figueiredo put it with basto and bastão under one root.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the first records to the 15th century.^[2][5] Machado quotes a letter of Lopo de Almeida from Italy: ella faria ledamente todo o que elle mandasse, que bastava dizer-lhe… “she would gladly do all that he commanded, for it was enough to tell her…”, already in the sense “to be enough”.^[12]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa (1611) renders bastar with Latin sufficio and sat est, and lists bastante and bastantemente.^[13] Feijó (1734) prescribes bastar “to be enough”, not abastar.^[14] Morais (1789) adds the figurative sense “to be capable”, quoting ninguém basta para imaginar os fogos do divino amor “no one is able to imagine the fires of divine love”.^[15] Vieira (1871) records the reflexive bastar-se.^[10]

The adjective bastante is recorded from the 15th century, and the imperative basta became an interjection “enough!” in the 18th.^[16][17] Today the reflexive means “to be self-sufficient”, and basta de calls for an end to something.^[2]

Timeline

• 15th century – first records;^[2][5][12] Lopo de Almeida writes bastava in a letter from Italy.^[2][5][12]
• 15th century – first record of bastante.^[16]
• 1542 – bastara in a private letter.^[18]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists bastar, bastante and bastantemente.^[13]
• 1712 – Bluteau equates basta with Latin sufficit, satis est.^[19]
• 1734 – Feijó prefers bastar to abastar.^[14]
• 18th century – first record of the interjection basta!.^[17]
• 1789 – Morais records the sense “to be capable”.^[15]
• 1813 – Morais compares Italian bastare.^[20]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be enough, suffice: Duas colheres de açúcar bastam.^[2][1][21]
2. To satisfy; to be adequate or suitable (for someone).^[1][6][7]
3. (impersonal, with a following verb or clause) To be all that is needed: Basta carregar no botão para a máquina arrancar.^[2][6]
4. (reflexive) To be self-sufficient, need no help from others.^[2][22]
5. basta de “enough of”: an order to stop something.^[2][6]

Word family

• bastante
• basta

Related words

• basto
• bastão
• Galician bastar
• Italian bastare

Usage notes

Quanto baste, abbreviated q.b., means “as much as is needed”: it is used in prescriptions and recipes.^[2][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. bastar
3. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. bastar
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 537
5. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. bastar
6. ^ a b c d 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. bastar
7. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1300
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. bastare
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. 65
10. ^ a b 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, 739
11. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 179
12. ^ a b c Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. bastar
13. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. bastar
14. ^ a b 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. bastar
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, 171
16. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. bastante
17. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. basta
18. ^ 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. bastar
19. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. bastar
20. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 268
21. ^ 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. bastar
22. ^ 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. bastar