conceber

Forms

conceber (first-person singular present concebo, first-person singular preterite concebi, past participle concebido)^[1] Houaiss records the 15th-century spellings cõçeber and comçeber.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin concipiō (“to take in; to conceive”), written Old Galician-Portuguese conceber in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] The Latin verb is formed con- and capiō (“to take, seize”).^[4][1] Wiktionary considers its sense of conceiving a calque of Ancient Greek συλλαμβάνω (sullambánō).^[1] The simple verb goes back to Proto-Italic *kapjō.^[1]

The same Latin verb is Galician concibir, Spanish concebir, Catalan concebre, French concevoir and Italian concepire.^[1][5] The learned words conceito, concepção and conceição come from the same Latin verb.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is in the Cantigas de Santa Maria, in praise of the Virgin: salve-te, que concebiste / mui contra natura “hail, you who conceived quite against nature”, and u a Deus concebiste “when you conceived God”.^[6] Houaiss and Cunha date it to the 13th century.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense “to become pregnant” and the mental sense “to form in the mind” both come from Latin.^[2][7] Bluteau (1712–1728) has, beside the first, conceber esperanças “to conceive hopes”, conceber huma má acçaõ “to plan a wicked deed”, and conceber as “to understand”, in a quotation where children understand the doctrine better.^[8] Morais (1813) adds the sense “to form a purpose in one's mind and embrace it”.^[9] Modern dictionaries add “to design” (furniture, machines) and “to see the world in a certain way”.^[10][11] The noun concebimento is recorded from the 14th century, concebível from 1881 and inconcebível from 1858.^[3]

Timeline

• 13th century – concebiste in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[6][2]
• 14th century – the noun concebimento, spelt cõçebemẽto.^[3]
• 15th century – the spellings cõçeber and comçeber.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders it by Latin concipio.^[12]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau records conceber esperanças and the sense “to understand”.^[8]
• 1858 – inconcebível.^[3]
• 1881 – concebível.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To conceive, become pregnant: Ela concebeu o primeiro filho aos trinta anos.^[2][10][1]
2. To bear, give birth to.^[2]
3. (figurative) To form an idea in the mind; to devise, invent, design: conceber um projeto.^[2][10][11]
4. To begin to feel or cherish (a hope, a passion).^[2][13]
5. To understand, to accept as possible: Não concebo como ele pôde mentir.^[2][11][1]
6. To put into a given form, to word: conceber um requerimento.^[2]
7. To imagine; to see or interpret in a certain way.^[1][11]

Word family

• concebimento
• concebível
• inconcebível

Related words

• conceito
• concepção
• conceção
• conceição
• anticoncepcional
• Latin concipiō
• Spanish concebir

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. conceber
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. conceber
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. concipiō
5. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 165
6. ^ 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. conceber
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. concevoir
8. ^ 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. conceber
9. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 433
10. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. conceber
11. ^ 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. conceber
12. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. conceber
13. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. conceber