cerrar

Forms

cerrar (first-person singular present cerro, first-person singular preterite cerrei, past participle cerrado)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote serrar, sarrar, çarrar and çerrar.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

In Wiktionary's account it is inherited from Vulgar Latin serrō (“to close, shut”), from Late Latin, and Cunha takes it directly from Late Latin; it is written Old Galician-Portuguese serrar, Old Galician-Portuguese sarrar, Old Galician-Portuguese çarrar and Old Galician-Portuguese çerrar in the oldest texts.^[2][1] Houaiss instead derives it from Spanish cerrar, recorded in Spanish from about 1140;^[5][6][7] Michaelis and DELPo also give the Spanish word as its source.^[5][6][7] The Late Latin verb is serō (“to bar, bolt”), from sera (“bar for fastening a door”).^[2][8][9][1]

The spellings with ⟨rr⟩ come from a popular confusion with serra (“saw”) and the verb meaning “to saw”, already found in Latin texts of the 5th century; the ⟨c⟩ of the Spanish verb Corominas explains by the influence of cercar (“to surround”).^[10] Lorenzo holds the same for the Galician-Portuguese ⟨ç⟩.^[11] Nascentes reports other views: Meyer-Lübke thought of the influence of cercear, and Menéndez Pidal of Andalusian speech.^[12] Morais had derived the word from Breton.^[13]

The same Latin verb gave Galician cerrar, French serrer and Italian serrare.^[14][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A letter of 1261 has a king's letter sent “closed inside” (dentro sarrada).^[4] The Cantigas de Santa Maria use all the forms: serren a eigreja “let them shut the church”, a porta que el serrara “the door he had shut”, que se lle çerraron os punos “that his fists clenched”, and sarradas of wounds that had healed.^[3][15]

Semantic evolution

The medieval verb already meant to shut a door, to clench the fist, to heal (of a wound) and to bring to an end.^[16][3] Morais (1789) adds military senses, “to close up the ranks” and “to join battle”.^[17] Bluteau (1712) and Feijó (1734) explain cerrar by fechar.^[18][19] Houaiss also has weather senses, of the sky growing dark with clouds or fog, a veterinary one, of a horse whose teeth have reached full growth, and nautical ones.^[5]

Timeline

• 1261 – sarrada “closed” in a royal letter.^[4]
• 13th century – serrar, çerrar and sarrar in the Cantigas de Santa Maria;^[3][2][5] Cunha and Houaiss also date cerrar and sarrar to this century.^[3][2][5]
• 1390 – the spelling çarar.^[5]
• 1416–1422 – çarrar in the minute book of the council of Santiago de Compostela.^[20]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary lists cerrar with Latin claudo.^[21]
• 1789 – Morais heads the word cerrar and notes the older çarrar.^[17]

Meanings

Verb

1. To close, shut (a door, window, eyes, mouth); to block a passage.^[5][8][1]
2. To enclose or fence in.^[5][22]
3. To press together tightly, to clench: Cerrou as mãos de raiva.^[5][23]
4. To cover or hide by placing something over or around.^[5]
5. To bring to an end, conclude;^[5][22] (reflexive) to end a speech or letter.^[5][22]
6. (reflexive) Of a wound: to heal over.^[5][22]
7. Of clouds: to gather; of the sky or weather: to grow dark or foggy.^[5][22]
8. To engage in battle with.^[5][24]
9. Of a horse or mule: to reach the age when its teeth are fully grown.^[5][22]
10. (nautical) To put the helm hard over to one side.^[5][9]

Word family

• cerração
• cerrado
• cerradura
• cerrilha
• descerrar
• encerrar
• entrecerrar
• semicerrar

Related words

• fechar
• Latin sera
• Spanish cerrar

Usage notes

Cerrar fileiras “to close ranks” is used for joining efforts, and cerrar os olhos can mean “to die”.^[25][22]

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 Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. cerrar
3. ^ 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. cerrar
4. ^ 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. sarrar
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. cerrar
6. ^ 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. cerrar
7. ^ a b NEHiLP – Núcleo de Apoio à Pesquisa em Etimologia e História da Língua Portuguesa, Universidade de São Paulo, DELPo: Dicionário Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa (online database), p. s.v. cerrar
8. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. cerrar
9. ^ 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. cerrar
10. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 51
11. ^ 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. çerrar
12. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 109
13. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 376
14. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7867
15. ^ 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. serrar
16. ^ 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. cerrar
17. ^ 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, 257
18. ^ Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cerrar
19. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cerrar
20. ^ 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. çarrar
21. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cerrar
22. ^ a b c d e f g Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. cerrar
23. ^ 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. cerrar
24. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1970
25. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. cerrar