convir

Forms

convir (first-person singular present convenho, first-person singular preterite convim, past participle convindo)^[1] Houaiss records the old spellings comuir (1272), convir and cõuir (13th century) and cõvijr (14th century).^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin conveniō (“to come together, meet; to agree”), written Old Galician-Portuguese convĩir in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] Nascentes traces the meaning from “to come to the same place, to meet” through “to be in agreement” to “to be fitting”.^[4] The verb is conjugated like vir, and Houaiss files it with the other compounds of that verb.^[2][1]

The same Latin verb is Galician convir, Spanish convenir, Catalan convenir, French convenir and Italian convenire.^[1][5][6]

The Latin word is formed of con- and veniō (“to come”).^[7][1] De Vaan lists it among the compounds of the simple verb, which goes back to *gʷəniō and Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- (“to step, come”).^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the verb to 1272, from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese, in the spelling comuir.^[2] The glossary of the cantigas d'amigo notes that the old language construed it with a before an infinitive, where the modern language has no preposition.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Cunha gives the core senses as “to agree, to admit” and “to suit, to befit”, both from the 13th century.^[3] Pereira (1697) and Bluteau (1712–1728) render it with Latin convenire and congruere, “to be fitting”.^[10][11] Feijó (1734) calls it an impersonal verb and conjugates it with the dative pronoun: convém-me a mim, convém-te a ti.^[12] Folqman (1755) separates the impersonal use, “to be expedient”, from the personal one, “to agree”.^[13]

Morais (1813) adds an older sense, “to happen at the same time, to coincide”, which the original Caldas Aulete labels antiquated and Houaiss still lists.^[14][15][2] Houaiss records the phrase como convém “as is proper”.^[2]

Timeline

• 1272 – first record, spelt comuir.^[2]
• 13th century – the spellings convir and cõuir; in the same century the derivatives conuenauil “fitting” and conveniência.^[2][3]
• 1697 – Pereira's Thesouro glosses the verb with Latin convenio and competo.^[10]
• 1734 – Feijó describes it as impersonal and sets out its conjugation.^[12]
• 1789 – Morais lists the senses “to be useful, fitting”, “to come to terms” and “to agree”.^[16]
• 1813 – Morais adds “to coincide in time”, with a quotation from Barros.^[14]
• 1822 – first record of convênio “agreement”.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To agree, accept or admit something, often after hesitation: Acabou por convir em que tinha errado.^[2][17][1]
2. To suit someone's needs; to serve: Essa casa não nos convém.^[2][18]
3. To coincide; to happen at the same time.^[2][14]
4. To be convenient, useful or advisable: Convém sair cedo.^[2][19][20]
5. To be becoming; to befit or go well with: Tal linguagem não convém a um juiz.^[2][15]
6. To come to an agreement on terms; to make a pact.^[18][15]

Word family

• convinhável

Related words

• convenção
• vir
• conveniente
• conveniência
• inconveniente
• convênio
• Latin conveniō
• Spanish convenir

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. convir
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. convir
4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. convir
5. ^ 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. convenir
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. convenir
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ 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. convir
10. ^ a b Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. convir
11. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. convir
12. ^ a b Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. convir
13. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. convir
14. ^ a b c Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 467
15. ^ a b c 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. convir
16. ^ 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, 326
17. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. convir
18. ^ a b 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. convir
19. ^ 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. convir
20. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. convir