causar

Forms

causar (first-person singular present causo, first-person singular preterite causei, past participle causado)^[1]

Etymology

It is probably formed from Portuguese causa + -ar, as Houaiss and Wiktionary explain it.^[2][1] Houaiss suggests that the starting point may instead have been Medieval Latin causo (infinitive causare) as the scholastic philosophers used it, in the sense “to bring about, produce”.^[2] Cunha, Figueiredo, Aurélio and the DLP derive it from Latin causor (“to plead as a reason, allege”), the deponent verb the Portuguese dictionaries have traditionally named, Aurélio and the DLP through a non-deponent form Vulgar Latin *causo.^[3][4][5][6] Houaiss compares the French verb for “to cause”, which is formed from French cause, and notes that Corominas likewise derives Spanish causar from Spanish causa.^[2]

The noun Latin causa (“lawsuit; cause”) is of unknown further origin; some connect it with cūdō (“to strike”), others doubt an Indo-European source.^[1][7] Through its popular development the same noun gave cousa and coisa, and Wiktionary calls coisar a piecewise doublet of the verb.^[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the verb to the 15th century from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese, and Cunha's own first date is 1500, in the sense “to be the cause of”.^[2][3] The Livro das tres vertudes, in a witness of after 1450, already uses it.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to be the cause of, bring about” has stayed the core meaning: Cardoso (1569) glosses it with the Latin “to be in cause”, Bluteau (1712–1728) as being the cause of anything, and he lists causar demandas “to give rise to lawsuits” and causar enfado “to cause annoyance”.^[10][11] Morais (1789) adds the sense “to make (someone do something)”, with an infinitive.^[12] Aulete records as archaic a construction with a clause, quoting Camões.^[13] In Brazilian slang the verb is also used intransitively for making mischief or seeking attention.^[1]

Timeline

• 15th century – first record, in Cunha's medieval index.^[2]
• after 1450 – causar in the Livro das tres vertudes.^[9]
• 1500 – Cunha's first dated record.^[3]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary lists Causar.^[10]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau gives causar demandas and causar enfado.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais records the construction with an infinitive.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To cause; to be the cause or motive of; to bring about, produce: a chuva forte causou estragos na estrada.^[2][5][1]
2. (transitive, with an indirect object) To cause something to someone: a notícia causou-lhe grande tristeza.^[2][14]
3. (Brazil, slang, intransitive) To make mischief or behave so as to draw attention.^[1]

Related words

• causa
• coisa
• Spanish causar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. causar
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. causar
4. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 268
5. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. causar
6. ^ 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. causar
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. causa
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1782
9. ^ a b Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. causar
10. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. causar
11. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. causar
12. ^ 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, 249
13. ^ 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. causar
14. ^ 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. causar