correr

Forms

correr (first-person singular present corro, first-person singular preterite corri, past participle corrido)^[1] Houaiss records corer in the 14th century.^[2] The old past participle was corrudo.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin currō (“to run”), written Old Galician-Portuguese correr in the oldest texts.^[2][4][1]

The same Latin verb is Galician correr, Spanish correr, Catalan córrer, French courir, Italian correre and Romanian curge.^[5][1]

The Latin verb goes back to *korzō and Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- (“to run”).^[1][6] De Vaan relates it to currus (“chariot”), to the Gaulish word that gave carrus, and, if the Germanic form was *hursa-, to hross and English horse.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the verb to the 13th century.^[2][4] The satirical cantigas use it for horsemen attacking at a run (genetes trosquiados / corrian-nos arredor), and also for driving someone out.^[3] In the Crónica Troiana rivers of blood run (corrian grandes rrios de sange), and a beaten army is corrudo, put to flight.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The medieval senses of running, flowing, attacking and driving away are all still current.^[3][2] Morais (1813) records correr terras “to travel through lands”, correr risco “to run a risk” and correr tormenta of ships in a storm.^[7] Later dictionaries add the passing of time, the circulation of money and news, and sliding or drawing a curtain or bolt.^[8][2]

In Brazil the transitive sense “to chase away” is common, and in Portugal the verb is used for running a computer program.^[1][9] It passed into the creoles as Kabuverdianu kori and Guinea-Bissau Creole kuri.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records.^[2][4]
• 14th century – the spelling corer.^[2]
• c. 1350 – correr in the Trasladação de S. Nicolau.^[10]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses it with Latin curro.^[11]
• 1712 – Bluteau defines it as hurrying one's steps with great speed.^[12]
• 1813 – Morais lists correr risco and correr tormenta.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To run: to move quickly on foot.^[2][13][1]
2. To take part in a race; to drive or move fast.^[2][1]
3. To hurry to a place; to rush to help.^[2][13]
4. To flow, of liquids; to run down, of tears.^[2][14][1]
5. To pass, of time; to go on, take place.^[14][1]
6. To spread, of news or a rumour; to circulate.^[14][1]
7. To travel through, go all over a place.^[2][14][1]
8. To slide; to draw a curtain or bolt.^[14][1]
9. To run a risk.^[1][7]
10. To drive away, chase off.^[14][1]
11. (Portugal, computing) To run a program.^[1]

Word family

• corrida
• corredor
• corrido

Related words

• concorrer
• corrente
• curso
• decorrer
• discorrer
• escorrer
• ocorrer
• recorrer
• socorrer
• Latin currō
• Galician correr

Usage notes

Wiktionary records a regional sense “to iron” in the Azores.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u 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. correr
3. ^ a b c d 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. correr
4. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. correr
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2415
6. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. currō
7. ^ a b c Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 477
8. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 351
9. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. correr
10. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. correr
11. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. correr
12. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. correr
13. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. correr
14. ^ a b c d e f Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2492