cometer

Forms

cometer (first-person singular present cometo, first-person singular preterite cometi, past participle cometido)^[1] Houaiss records commeter in the 15th century, and Bluteau heads the word cometer, ou commeter, ou cometter.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin committō (“to join; to entrust; to commit”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cometer in the oldest texts.^[2][4][1] Nascentes thinks it came down by a semi-learned route.^[5]

The same Latin verb is Spanish cometer, Catalan cometre, Italian commettere and French commettre; the REW records a reflexive sense “to dare” for the Latin verb.^[6][7] The Latin verb is formed from con- and mittō (“to send”).^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the verb to the 13th century.^[2][4] In the cantigas it means “to attack”, “to challenge” and “to undertake”: com'ousastes tal cousa cometer “how did you dare to undertake such a thing”, in an exchange between Bernal de Bonaval and Abril Peres.^[9][10] The Crónica Troiana uses it for charging the enemy and for setting about a task.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The Cancioneiro da Ajuda already has the modern “to commit”, of folly, beside the senses “to attack, undertake, begin”.^[11] Bluteau gives both cometer hum crime and cometer grandes emprezas “to undertake great enterprises”, and Folqman the sense “to entrust a commission to someone”.^[3][12]

In modern Portuguese the verb is used mostly of wrong acts: a crime, an error, a sin.^[2][13][14] The senses “entrust” and “propose, offer” are still recorded, the second also in the dialects of Portugal, where the verb is said of potatoes beginning to sprout as well.^[2][14][15] Houaiss records a joking use, “to perpetrate” a few sonnets.^[2]

Timeline

• 1200s – first records, in the senses “attack, challenge, undertake”.^[2][9]
• c. 1430 – the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437) uses the verb.^[16]
• 1400s – the spelling commeter, and the noun cometimento.^[2][4]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary translates it with Latin committo and admitto.^[17]
• 1500s – first record of acometer.^[4]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau: cometer hum crime.^[3]
• 1755 – Folqman: “to entrust a commission”.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To commit, perpetrate (a crime, an error, a sin): cometer uma falha grave.^{[2][13][14][1]}
2. To carry out, perform: cometer um ato de coragem.^[2][18]
3. To undertake or attempt, and (reflexive) to venture, risk oneself.^[2][13]
4. To attack, assail.^[2][19]
5. To propose, offer (a solution, a deal).^[2][20]
6. To entrust, delegate: cometeu-lhe a gestão da quinta.^[2][14]
7. (humorous) To perpetrate (poor verses).^[2]

Word family

• cometimento
• acometer

Related words

• meter
• Latin committō
• Spanish cometer

Usage notes

Wiktionary also lists an obsolete reflexive cometer-se used for acometer “to attack”.^[1]

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 n o Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. cometer
3. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cometer
4. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. cometer
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. cometer
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. cometer
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Lopes, Graça Videira; Ferreira, Manuel Pedro et al. (2011–), Cantigas Medievais Galego-Portuguesas [online database], Lisboa: Instituto de Estudos Medievais, FCSH/NOVA, https://cantigas.fcsh.unl.pt, p. s.v. cometer
10. ^ 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. cometer
11. ^ a b 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. cometer
12. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cometer
13. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. cometer
14. ^ a b c d 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. cometer
15. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. cometer
16. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. cometer
17. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cometer
18. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. cometer
19. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2245
20. ^ 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. cometer