cansar

Forms

cansar (first-person singular present canso, first-person singular preterite cansei, past participle cansado)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote canssar (13th century), later also cãssar (14th century).^[2][3] The spelling cançar, cançaço was common in the 19th century, though Vieira held that ⟨s⟩ was correct.^[4]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Latin campsō (“to sail round, to double a cape”), a word of the language of sailors.^[2][3][1] The Latin verb is from Ancient Greek κάμψαι (kámpsai), the aorist of κάμπτω (kámptō, “to bend”).^[1][5] Corominas, followed by Houaiss and Nascentes, gets from the nautical “to double a cape” to “to tire” through the idea “to cease doing something”.^[2][6] García de Diego sees the step as “to keep going round and round”, whose effect is tiredness, and notes that in the 13th century the verb meant “to grow tired”.^[7] Latin glosses render the verb with “bends”.^[7][8]

Diez, Adolfo Coelho and Meyer-Lübke derived the verb from quassō (“to shake, to shatter”), comparing alquebrar “to break one's strength”.^[9][10] Meyer-Lübke rejected the Latin sailor's word because of its meaning.^[11] Vieira, Figueiredo and the first Aulete still give this etymology.^[4][12] Against it, Corominas and García de Diego point out that it cannot explain the /n/ before the /s/.^[6][7]

The same word is Galician cansar and Spanish cansar, and the Latin verb also gave Italian cansare (“to move aside, to avoid”).^[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In a cantiga of Johan Baveca the word describes fighters tiring as they strike: e, dando colbes en vós, cansarán, “and, dealing blows on you, they will tire”.^[13][14] Martin Soarez has se canssar ou sse caer, “if he tires or falls”.^[14] The Crónica Geral uses it in the sense “to cease”: o muy noble rrey nõ quiso cansar de fazer bem, “the most noble king would not stop doing good”.^[14]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to cease, to stop” of the Crónica Geral lives on in não se cansar de “never to tire of”.^[14][2] The figurative “to bore, to weary” is recorded by the first Aulete and by Figueiredo.^[15][12] Brazilian usage has a sense “to run short, to be lacking”: money never cansa for someone who always has it.^[2][16] The reflexive also means “to take pains, to strive”.^[2]

Timeline

• 13th century – canssar in the cantigas of Johan Baveca and Martin Soarez.^[14][2][3]
• 14th century – cansar and cãssar; first records of cansaço and descansar.^[2][3]
• 15th century – first record of cansamento.^[3]
• 1513 – cansar in the Livro dos Mártires.^[17]
• 16th century – first records of canseira and descanso.^[3]
• 1572 – first record of incansável, spelt -sabil.^[3]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira derives the verb from Latin quassō and argues for the spelling with ⟨s⟩.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To tire, to weary: to wear out someone's strength, in body or mind; to grow tired: Esta caminhada cansou as crianças.^[2][18][1]
2. To bore, to annoy; to grow bored: Aquela conversa já cansa.^[2][18]
3. (with de) To cease, to stop: Nunca se cansou de pedir justiça.^[2][18]
4. To run short, to be lacking.^[2][16]
5. (reflexive) To strive, to take pains over something.^[2]

Word family

• cansaço
• cansado
• canseira
• descansar
• descanso
• incansável

Related words

• Latin campsō
• Galician cansar

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 l m Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. cansar
3. ^ a b c d e f g Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. cansar
4. ^ 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. 2, 75
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. campsō
6. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 809
7. ^ a b c García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. campsare
8. ^ 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. campsare
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. 94
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6939
11. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1562
12. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 244
13. ^ 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. cansar
14. ^ 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. cansar
15. ^ 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. cansar
16. ^ a b 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. cansar
17. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. cansar
18. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. cansar