dar

Forms

dar (first-person singular present dou, first-person singular preterite dei, past participle dado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dō (“to give”), written Old Galician-Portuguese dar in the oldest texts.^[2][1][3] The editor of the Ajuda songbook points out that the troubadours wrote the subjunctive dé, true to the Latin det, where Portuguese now says dê by analogy with dês.^[4]

The same Latin verb is Galician dar, Spanish dar, Catalan dar, Italian dare and Romanian da;^[5][1] Old French lacked the verb, and only its first person doins shows a trace of it.^[5][1]

The Latin verb is from *didō, from Proto-Indo-European *dédeh₃ti, from the root *deh₃- (“to give”);^[1] Latin lost the reduplication in the present but kept it in the perfect dedī.^[1] The Oxford Latin Dictionary compares Ancient Greek δίδωμι (dídōmi).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the first record to 1211.^[2] The glossary of the Cancioneiro da Ajuda gives the senses “to make a present of, to hand over”, and the Crónica Troiana also uses it of the sun shining on something and of lightning striking ships.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The troubadours already used the verb for granting a favour, giving a gift, paying, handing back, causing an effect, serving food and drink, attacking with a weapon and saying or announcing something.^[7] Morais's dictionary of 1813 defines it as passing to another, without payment, the ownership of what is one's own, and adds “to hand over” and “to produce” (of land that bears fruit).^[8] Vieira quotes Fernão Lopes's Chronica de D. Pedro for the sense “to make a gift”.^[9]

In north-eastern Brazil dar em means “to beat, to thrash”.^[10] The verb also means “to be enough” (dar para), “to lead onto” (of a door) and “to defeat by a score”.^[2][1]

Timeline

• 1211 – first record.^[2]
• 13th century – the cantigas use the subjunctive dé.^[4]
• c. 1400 – a fragment of the Flos Sanctorum of Santiago de Compostela, the oldest CTA text with the verb.^[11]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses Dar with Latin do and praebeo.^[12]
• 1734 – Feijó sets out the present dou, dás, dá, dâmos, dais, daõ.^[13]
• 1813 – Morais's definition: passing what is ours to another without payment.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To give, to hand over; to make a present of.^[2][1]
2. To give in exchange for; to pay (for).^[2][14]
3. To grant, to offer; to devote (one's time or attention).^[2]
4. To tell, to pass on (news, a warning); to deal (cards).^[2][1]
5. To yield, to produce: Esta macieira dá muita fruta.^[2][1]
6. To cause (a feeling, an effect): dar sono, dar medo.^[2][1]
7. To deliver (a blow, a kiss) or make (a movement).^[2][1]
8. To come to, to make (in a sum): Dois e dois dão quatro.^[2]
9. To fit (into a space).^[2]
10. To teach (a class): dar aulas.^[2]
11. (with para) To be enough;^[2][1] (impersonal) to be possible.^[2][1]
12. (with para) Of a door, to open onto, to lead to.^[2]
13. (with com) To come across, to find.^[2]
14. (reflexive) To get on (with someone); to happen, to occur.^[2][1]
15. (Brazil, north-east, with em) To beat, to thrash.^[10]

Related words

• dádiva
• dador
• dado
• dativo
• Latin dō
• Galician dar

Usage notes

Dar-se bem and dar-se mal mean “to get on well” and “to fare badly”.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. dar
3. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. dar
4. ^ a b c 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. dar
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2476
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ 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. dar
8. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 510
9. ^ 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, 700
10. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. dar
11. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. dar
12. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. dar
13. ^ 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. dar
14. ^ 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. dar