bater

Forms

bater (first-person singular present bato, first-person singular preterite bati, past participle batido)^[1] Houaiss records the participle batudo (13th century) and the spellings bateer and bather (15th century).^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin battō (“to beat”), the later form of battuō (“to beat, pound; to fence”), written Old Galician-Portuguese bater in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] Houaiss, Cunha and Machado treat the late form as unattested Vulgar Latin.^[2][3][4] Wiktionary's Latin entry records the shorter verb from the 2nd century AD.^[2][3][4][1]

Machado notes that the classical verb was a popular word, rare in the texts but found already in Plautus, and that it was one of the verbs that replaced feriō (“to strike”), beside percutiō; since most of its many senses are shared by the main Romance languages, he takes them to be Latin already.^[4] The same Latin verb is Galician bater, Spanish batir, Catalan batre, French battre, Italian battere and Romanian bate.^[5][1] Corominas observes that in Spanish and Portuguese the verb had a weaker life than in the other Romance languages and was used from the start mostly in special senses, military and technical.^[6]

The origin of the Latin verb is unclear: the OLD marks it as Gaulish, and Wiktionary suggests a Gaulish or Germanic source, perhaps ultimately imitative.^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's chronology finds the participle in the Cantigas de Santa Maria: serás salva porque é ja o demo batudo "you will be saved, for the devil is now beaten" (cantiga 237).^[8] In a cantiga d'escarnho of Pai Gomez Charinho a foundation is alt' e ben batudo "high and well rammed", and the Crónica Troiana tells of soldiers who took small children from their mothers' arms et batianos aas paredes "and dashed them against the walls".^[8] Machado's first quotation is of the 14th century: apressa no bico e bate con o cabo na luva, with bate "strikes".^[4]

Semantic evolution

Cardoso (1569) glosses bater with Latin pulso "to strike, knock", and Bluteau gives bater à porta "to knock at the door" and bater moeda "to strike coins".^[9][10] Morais (1813) adds bater as palmas "to clap" and the bombardment of walls by artillery, with peça de bater "siege gun".^[11] Vieira (1871–1874) records bater as azas "to flap the wings", figuratively "to run away", and bater o campo "to scout the country".^[12]

Later senses include beating eggs or cream, closing a door with a bang, defeating an opponent and breaking a record.^[2][13][14] Brazilian Portuguese uses it for taking a photograph and, impersonally, for a feeling that comes over one (bateu uma saudade).^[1] In north-eastern Brazil it also means to walk a road or travel about.^[15]

Timeline

• 13th century – the participle batudo in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[2][8]
• 14th century – Machado's first quotation of the verb;^[4][3] Cunha also dates it to this century.^[4][3]
• 1431–1446 – the Vida do Infante Josafat, the first CTA text with the word.^[16]
• 15th century – first record of the derivative batente.^[3]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses it as Latin pulso.^[9]
• 1813 – Morais records bater as palmas and peça de bater.^[11]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira records bater as azas and bater o campo.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To strike, hit; to beat someone: bater na mesa;^[2][13][1] bater em alguém.^[2][13][1]
2. To knock (at a door), to ring (a bell) to be let in: Bateram duas vezes à porta.^[2][14][1]
3. To hit against, collide with: O carro bateu no muro.^[14][1]
4. To beat (a carpet, washing) to clean it; to whisk (eggs, cream).^[2][13][1]
5. To shut with a bang: bater a porta.^[13][14][1]
6. To strike (coins); to clap (hands); to flap (wings); to play (a drum).^[2][17][1]
7. Of the heart, to beat, throb; to sound.^[2][18][1]
8. To defeat, beat; to break (a record).^[14][1]
9. Of light or a shadow, to fall on something: O sol batia na janela.^[2][1]
10. (Brazil) To take (a photograph); (Brazil, informal) of a feeling, to come over someone.^[1]
11. (military) To scout or search (an area).^[1][12]
12. (reflexive) To fight; to struggle hard (for something).^[13][18][1]

Word family

• batedeira
• batedor
• batedouro
• batente
• batida
• batido
• batimento
• bate-papo

Related words

• abater
• combater
• debater
• bateria
• Latin battuō
• Spanish batir

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. bater
3. ^ a b c d e f Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. bater
4. ^ 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. bater
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 996
6. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 544
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. battuō
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. bater
9. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. bater
10. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. bater
11. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 270
12. ^ a b c 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, 742
13. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. bater
14. ^ a b c d e Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1309
15. ^ Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. bater
16. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. bater
17. ^ 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. bater
18. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. bater