comprar

Forms

comprar (first-person singular present compro, first-person singular preterite comprei, past participle comprado)^[1] Medieval texts write comprar, conprar and cõparar; a charter of 1228 has the Latinising infinitive conparar.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *comperō, from comparō (“to prepare, procure, obtain”), written Old Galician-Portuguese comprar and Old Galician-Portuguese conprar in the oldest texts.^[4][1][5] Houaiss starts directly from the classical form.^[2] The Latin verb is formed from con- and parō (“to furnish, provide”).^[6] It replaced emō (“to buy”) in all the Romance languages.^[7][8] Leite de Vasconcelos thought that recuperō may have influenced it.^[9]

The same Latin word is Galician comprar, Spanish comprar, Catalan comprar, Italian comprare and Romanian cumpăra; the western forms seem to rest on the Vulgar Latin form.^[10][1] comparar “to compare” is the learned doublet, taken later from the same Latin verb.^[1][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first date, 981, is the form comprarei in a Latin charter.^[2] Vieira quotes a document of 1211 from the Portugaliae Monumenta Historica fearing that the huntsmen poderiam conprar tantas possissões “might buy so many possessions” that it would harm the realm.^[12] Galician charters have compramos in 1257 and comprey and comprou in 1260, always of buying land.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The Cantigas de Santa Maria already use the verb in the religious sense “to redeem”, of Christ que nos conprou / polo seu sangue “who bought us with his blood”.^[3][13] Morais (1813) adds the figurative senses “to bribe” and “to earn, procure”, as in comprar arrependimento “to buy oneself regret”.^[14] Figueiredo (1899) records the card-game sense, “to draw cards from the pack”.^[15]

In Brazilian informal speech comprar briga means to get into a quarrel needlessly.^[2]

Timeline

• 981 – comprarei in a Latin charter.^[2]
• 1211 – conprar in a document quoted by Vieira.^[12]
• 1257 – compramos in a Galician charter;^[3] conparar in one of 1228.^[3]
• c. 1450 – the Livro das tres vertudes (witness after 1450) uses the verb.^[16]
• 1569 – Cardoso translates Comprar by Latin emo and mercor.^[17]
• 1813 – Morais records the figurative “to bribe”.^[14]
• 1899 – Figueiredo records “to draw cards”.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. To buy, to obtain for money: Comprámos uma casa na aldeia.^[2][1][18]
2. (figurative) To obtain, often at a cost or sacrifice.^[2][19]
3. To bribe.^[2][18]
4. (card games) To draw cards from the pack.^[2][19]

Word family

• compra
• comprador

Related words

• comparar
• Latin comparō
• Galician comprar

Usage notes

The proverb quem desdenha quer comprar “he who disparages wants to buy” is said of people who belittle what they would like to have.^[19][20] In some Portuguese dialects comprar is also used for “to become pregnant”.^[21]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. comprar
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. comprar
4. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. comprar
5. ^ 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. comprar
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. comparō
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 163
8. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. comprar
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. 130
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2094
11. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. comparare
12. ^ a b 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, 357
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. comprar
14. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 430
15. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. comprar
16. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. comprar
17. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. comprar
18. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. comprar
19. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2273
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. comprar
21. ^ 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. comprar