calçar

Forms

calçar (first-person singular present calço, first-person singular preterite calcei, past participle calçado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin calceō (“to put on shoes, to shoe”), written Old Galician-Portuguese calçar in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] The Latin verb is formed from calceus (“shoe”), itself from calx (“heel”).^[2][4][1] De Vaan lists the Latin word for shoe among the derivatives of the word for heel, which has cognates in Baltic and Slavic words for the ankle and the hip.^[5]

The same Latin verb is Galician calzar, Spanish calzar, Catalan calçar, French chausser, Italian calzare and Romanian încălța.^[6][1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Latin charters of 1061 and 1064 already pair clothing and shoeing a person as a service: in mia uida uestire et calcar “to clothe and shoe me in my lifetime”.^[8][2] In the Cantigas de Santa Maria a woman cannot put on a shoe (u quis calça-la hũa delas), a poor man vestia e calçava “clothed and shod” his wife and children from his vineyard, and someone vistiu-sse log' e calçou-sse “dressed and put his shoes on at once”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The pairing of vestir and calçar runs through the medieval texts: a document of 1337 sets aside twenty sous pera calçar e pera camysas, and the Crónica Geral of 1344 speaks of sandals worn (avarcas calçadas).^[8] The verb covered gloves and hose as well as shoes, as Morais's definition of 1813 shows.^[9]

Morais also records the senses “to pave with stones” (calçar as ruas), “to put a wedge under” and “to earth up a tree”, the opposite of digging round it.^[9][10] Vieira adds a term of horsemanship, and Figueiredo the tipping of tools with steel.^[11][12] In Brazilian football and in the speech of Rio Grande do Sul it means to trip someone up with the foot or leg.^[2][13]

Timeline

• 1061 – a Latin charter writes uestire et calcar.^[8][2]
• 13th century, second half – calçar in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[8][3]
• 13th century – first record of descalçar and descalço.^[3]
• 1344 – the Crónica Geral has avarcas calçadas.^[8]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders Calçar by Latin calceo.^[14]
• 17th century – first record of calçado as adjective and noun.^[3]
• 1813 – Morais records the senses “to pave” and “to earth up a tree”.^[9]
• 1858 – first record of calçamento and calço.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive and reflexive) To put on (shoes, socks, trousers, gloves): Calçou as botas e saiu.^[2][15][1]
2. (transitive) To provide with footwear: Era a avó que vestia e calçava os netos.^[2][16]
3. (transitive) To pave (a street or path) with stones.^[2][10]
4. (transitive) To put a wedge under, to steady: Calçou a mesa com um papel dobrado.^[2][10]
5. (intransitive) To fit well (of shoes): Estes sapatos calçam bem.^[2][16]
6. (transitive) To wear shoes of a given size: Calço o 40.^[16]
7. (agriculture) To heap earth around the foot of a plant.^[10][9]
8. (transitive) To tip (a tool) with steel.^[12][10]
9. (football) To trip (an opponent) with the foot or leg.^[2][13]

Word family

• descalçar
• calçado
• calçadeira
• calçadura
• calçamento
• calço

Related words

• calça
• descalço
• Latin calceus
• Galician calzar

Usage notes

Calçar pelo mesmo pé “to shoe by the same foot” means to have the same tastes and inclinations.^[15]

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 k Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. calçar
3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. calça
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. calceō
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1497
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. chausser
8. ^ a b c d e f 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. calçar
9. ^ a b c d Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 324
10. ^ a b c d e Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. calçar
11. ^ Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 2, 42
12. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 230
13. ^ a b Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. calçar
14. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. calçar
15. ^ a b 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. calçar
16. ^ a b c 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. calçar