bendizer

Forms

bendizer (first-person singular present bendigo, first-person singular preterite bendisse, past participle bendito)^[1] Houaiss records bendizer from the 14th century and bemdizer from the 15th; the spelling bem-dizer is not the preferred one.^[2] Vieira still heads the word bemdizer and refers bendizer to it.^[3] Schlee notes that bendizer is preferred to bem-dizer.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin benedīcō (“to speak well of; to bless”), a compound of bene (“well”) and dīcō (“to say”).^[2][5][1] The DLP gives the source as Church Latin.^[6] Caldas Aulete's original dictionary and Michaelis analyse the word instead as bem and dizer.^[7][8]

The same Latin verb gave the popular benzer, written Old Galician-Portuguese beeizer in the 13th century and Old Galician-Portuguese beenzer in the 14th.^[9][10][1] Houaiss calls that verb the popular divergent form of this one, while Machado calls this verb the divergent of the other.^[9][10] Machado's first record of the present verb is of the 15th century, later than Houaiss's date.^[10]

Other descendants of the Latin verb are Spanish bendecir, Italian benedire and French bénir, which lost the -d-.^[11][1][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the verb to the 14th century from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese.^[2] Machado's earliest quotation is from a 15th-century life of Saint Francis: e sam Françisco pose-lhe a maão e cabeça e bendisse-o "and Saint Francis laid his hand on his head and blessed him".^[10]

Semantic evolution

In classical Latin the verb meant "to speak well of, commend" and took a dative; in late and Church Latin it took an accusative and meant "to bless, praise God".^[5][13] Medieval Latin also used it for consecrating a church and ordaining a priest.^[14]

Portuguese kept both lines: "to praise, speak well of" and "to bless", and Houaiss adds "to make prosperous" and "to give thanks for a favour received".^[2] The opposite is maldizer.^[15][7]

Timeline

• 14th century – first record, from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese.^[2]
• 15th century – the spelling bemdizer.^[2]
• 15th century – bendisse-o in a life of Saint Francis.^[10]
• 1871 – Vieira heads the verb bemdizer.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To speak well of; to praise, extol: bendizia a coragem do irmão.^[2][15]
2. (transitive) To bless, give a blessing to; = abençoar, benzer.^[2][16][1]
3. (transitive) To make happy and prosperous; to protect.^[2][7]
4. (transitive) To give thanks for a blessing or favour received: bendigo o dia em que vieste.^[2][7]
5. (transitive) To glorify: bendizei o Senhor.^[15][6]

Word family

• bendito
• bendizente

Related words

• benzer
• bênção
• abençoar
• maldizer
• Latin benedīcō
• Spanish bendecir

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. bendizer
3. ^ 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, 755
4. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. bendizer
5. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. benedico
6. ^ a b 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. bendizer
7. ^ a b c d 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. bendizer
8. ^ 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. bendizer
9. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. benzer
10. ^ a b c d e Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. benzer
11. ^ 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. bendecir
12. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. bénir
13. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. benedico
14. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. benedicere
15. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. bendizer
16. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. bendizer