confirmar

Forms

confirmar (first-person singular present confirmo, first-person singular preterite confirmei, past participle confirmado)^[1] Houaiss records cõfirmar in the 13th century and comffyrmar in 1292.^[2] The Crónica Geral writes both confirmar and cõfirmar.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cōnfirmō (“to strengthen, consolidate, confirm”), by the learned route.^[2][4][5][1] The Latin verb is formed con- + firmō (“to strengthen”), from firmus (“firm, stable”).^[6][7][1]

The same Latin verb is Galician confirmar, Spanish confirmar, Catalan confirmar, French confirmer and Italian confermare.^[8][7][1] In French the older confermer was replaced in the 16th century by the form remade on Latin.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first date is 1254, after Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese.^[2] Lorenzo's record of that year is the charter formula roboro et confirmo et octorgo la carta.^[3] A Latin charter of 983 already has the participle confirmada.^[3] In a cantiga d'escarnho of Airas Perez Vuitoron someone fez mandado do Papa e confirmou-lh' o Esleito “did the Pope's bidding and confirmed the bishop-elect for him”.^[3][9]

Semantic evolution

In Latin the verb first meant to strengthen the body or a thing, then to assure and to certify;^[6][7] Christian writers made it a word of the liturgy.^[6][7] Medieval Latin used it for confirming an earlier charter.^[10] The medieval Portuguese texts have both senses: the Cantigas de Santa Maria say a cleric was na fe confirmado “strengthened in the faith”, and the Crónica Geral tells how a king confirmou a ley dos godos “confirmed the law of the Goths”.^[3]

Morais (1813) defines it as to revalidate what is approved, to corroborate with new arguments, and as a synonym of chrismar “to confirm in the sacrament”.^[11] Modern dictionaries add proving a hypothesis true and, in the reflexive, coming true; the sense “to make firmer” is now dated.^[2][12][13]

Timeline

• 983 – a Latin charter writes confirmada.^[3]
• 1254 – first record, after Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese.^[2]
• 13th century – the spelling cõfirmar; confirmação and confirmador also appear.^[2][4]
• 1292 – the spelling comffyrmar.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders it by Latin firmo and confirmo.^[14]
• 1813 – Morais gives the sense “to confirm in the sacrament”, and confirmativo is first recorded.^[11][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To state the truth or exactness of something said or believed before; to corroborate (corroborar): O vizinho confirmou a versão da polícia.^[2][15][1]
2. To ratify or validate an act or decision: O tribunal confirmou a sentença.^[2][12]
3. To show to be true; to prove: Os resultados confirmaram a hipótese.^[2][15]
4. To keep up, maintain;^[15][13] (dated) to make firmer.^[15][13]
5. (religion) To administer the sacrament of confirmation (confirmação); to chrism (crismar).^[12][15][16]
6. (reflexive) To come true, be borne out: Confirmou-se a previsão.^[2][13][16]

Word family

• confirmação
• confirmador
• confirmante
• confirmativo
• confirmatório

Related words

• firmar
• firme
• Latin cōnfirmō
• Spanish confirmar

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. confirmar
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. confirmar
4. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. confirmar
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. confirmar
6. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. cōnfirmō
7. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. confirmer
8. ^ 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. confirmar
9. ^ 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. confirmar
10. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. confirmare
11. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 442
12. ^ a b c 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. confirmar
13. ^ a b c d Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2328
14. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. confirmar
15. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. confirmar
16. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. confirmar