combater

Forms

combater (first-person singular present combato, first-person singular preterite combati, past participle combatido)^[1] Houaiss records the spellings cõbater in the 14th century and combather in the 15th.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *combattō (“to fight with”), written Old Galician-Portuguese combater in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] The Vulgar Latin verb is an altered form of Late Latin combattuō, recorded in the 5th century, which is formed com- (“with”) + battuō (“to beat”).^[3][4][1]

The same verb is Galician combater, Spanish combatir, Catalan combatre, French combattre and Italian combattere.^[1][5] The Latin verb for “to beat” is rare in literary Latin and of uncertain origin, perhaps a Gaulish or Germanic word.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Cantigas de Santa Maria of the 13th century the sea comes to “batter” a pilgrim con grandes ondas “with great waves”, and the Virgin defends Constantinople dos mouros que a conbatian “from the Moors who were attacking it”.^[6] The first sense is thus “to attack, assail”, both of armies and of the elements;^[6][2] Houaiss dates “to oppose” to the 13th century too.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

The heading of a cantiga in the Cancioneiro da Ajuda has combater con alguém “to fight with someone”.^[6] Cardoso (1569) and Barbosa (1611) translate the verb with Latin oppugno “to assault (a town)”, and Bluteau with the Latin verbs of fighting and battle.^[7][8][9] Morais (1789) already has the figurative “to fight against an opinion, against errors”.^[10] The later senses “to try to overcome a disease or put out a fire” and “to argue against” are recorded by Caldas Aulete and Aurélio.^[11][12] The noun combate is recorded from the 14th century and combatente from the 17th.^[3]

Timeline

• 13th century – combater and conbatian in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[6][2][3]
• 14th century – the spelling cõbater; first record of combate.^[2][3]
• 1450 – combater in the Livro das tres vertudes.^[13]
• 1569 – Cardoso translates it with Latin oppugno.^[7]
• 1789 – Morais records the figurative “to fight against an opinion”.^[10]
• 17th century – first record of combatente.^[3]
• 1899 – first record of combatividade.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fight, to wage war; to do battle against or for someone.^[2][12][1]
2. To stand against an idea or influence, to oppose it (opor).^[2][12]
3. To strive to overcome or put an end to something: a disease (doença), a fire, a prejudice.^[2][12][14]
4. To argue against, to contest in debate.^[12][15]
5. (reflexive) To be in inner conflict, to struggle with oneself.^[15]

Word family

• combate
• combatente
• combatedor
• combativo
• combatividade

Related words

• bater
• Latin battuō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. combater
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. combater
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. combattre
5. ^ 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, 294
6. ^ 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. combater
7. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. combater
8. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. combater
9. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. combater
10. ^ 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, 289
11. ^ 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. combater
12. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. combater
13. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. combater
14. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. combater
15. ^ 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. combater