constranger

Forms

constranger (first-person singular present constranjo, first-person singular preterite constrangi, past participle constrangido)^[1] Houaiss records constringer (1257), constranger (1292), constreger and constreguer (13th century), constrager and costramger (15th century); Cunha has costrenger and costranger from the 13th century.^[2][3] The DDGM finds costrenger beside constrenger from the 13th to the 15th century.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cōnstringō (“to bind together; to compel”), written Old Galician-Portuguese costrenger and Old Galician-Portuguese constrenger in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][5] The DLP, the Porto dictionary and Wiktionary start from a Vulgar Latin altered form *cōnstrangere.^[6][7][1] Nascentes explains the vowel step by step: the Latin /i/ gave /e/ in an unstressed syllable, and this /e/ later became /a/.^[8][5] The Latin verb is formed con- and stringō (“to bind tight”).^[9][1] Houaiss notes the learned doublet constringir, recorded from 1813.^[2][3]

The same Latin verb is Spanish constreñir, Catalan constrènyer, Occitan constrénher, French contraindre and Italian costringere.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is constringer in 1257.^[2] A charter of 1282 orders officials to compel everyone to pay the tithe: vnde uos mando que costrengades todos... que paguem a mjm ou ao meu porteyro a dizima “so I order you to compel all ... to pay the tithe to me or to my porter”.^[4] The first sense is legal force.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In the medieval texts the verb means to force, press or compel, often beside apremar, as in a text of 1459 (que os constrengese et apremease).^[4] Cardoso (1569) and Barbosa (1611) render it by Latin cogo and compello, and Bluteau (1712–1728) defines it as to oblige by force.^[11][12][13] Vieira (1871–1874) also gives the physical sense “to squeeze”, still current of tight clothes.^[14][2] Modern dictionaries add the sense “to embarrass, make ill at ease”, with the reflexive constranger-se “to feel awkward”.^[2][15][1] The noun constrangimento is recorded from the 14th century.^[3]

Timeline

• 1257 – constringer.^[2]
• 1282 – costrengades in a charter about the tithe.^[4]
• 1292 – constranger.^[2]
• 14th century – the noun constrangimento.^[3]
• 1459 – constrengese and costregese in the same text.^[4]
• 1513 – costranger in the Livro dos Mártires.^[16]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders it by Latin cogo.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as “to compel by force”.^[17]
• 1813 – the learned doublet constringir.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To squeeze, press tight; to hamper the movements of: Aquele colarinho constrangia-lhe o pescoço.^[2][15]
2. To restrict the freedom of; to hold in subjection.^[2][18]
3. To compel, coerce: to force someone, often by threats, to do what they do not want: Constrangeram-no a assinar o contrato.^[2][19][1]
4. To embarrass, make ill at ease;^[2][6][1] (reflexive) to feel embarrassed.^[2][6][1]
5. To annoy, put out of humour;^[2] (reflexive) to be annoyed.^[2]

Word family

• constrangimento
• constrangedor

Related words

• constringir
• constritor
• Latin cōnstringō
• Spanish constreñir
• French contraindre

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. constranger
3. ^ a b c d e f Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. constranger
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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. costrenger
5. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. constranger
6. ^ 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. constranger
7. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2377
8. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 133
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. constringō
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2173
11. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. constranger
12. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. constranger
13. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. constranger
14. ^ 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, 444
15. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. constranger
16. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. costranger
17. ^ 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, 316
18. ^ 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. constranger
19. ^ 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. constranger