defender

Forms

defender (first-person singular present defendo, first-person singular preterite defendi, past participle defendido)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dēfendō (“to ward off; to protect”), written Old Galician-Portuguese defender in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] Nascentes counts it a learned word.^[4]

The same Latin verb is Spanish defender, Catalan defendre, French défendre and Italian difendere.^[5][1] Corominas calls the Spanish verb a very old semi-learned word.^[6] The REW gives the Latin verb both senses, “to defend” and “to forbid”; the sense “to forbid” arose in Late Latin, in legal use.^[5][7]

The Latin verb is formed of dē- and an unattested simple verb *fendō (“to strike”), from Proto-Italic *fendō, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰen- (“to strike, kill”), also found in offendō.^[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the first record to 1286, in the form deffendo.^[2] In the cantigas the verb has two senses, “to protect” and “to forbid”: in the cantigas d'amigo the girl often says she has forbidden her friend something, as in D. Dinis's madre, pois que lh'eu defendi “mother, since I forbade him”.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

The Crónica Troiana has both senses, “to protect” and “to forbid”.^[10] Bluteau adds “to plead someone's cause”, that is, to act as his advocate.^[11] Morais (1813) still lists “to forbid”, quoting the old law codes, and Aurélio and Priberam keep it among the senses of today.^[12][13][14] Modern senses include “to uphold (an opinion)”, “to present a thesis”, in sport “to stop (a shot)”, and in informal Brazilian Portuguese “to earn (money) however one can”.^[2][1] In Rio Grande do Sul defender-se also means to live on odd jobs.^[15]

Timeline

• 1286 – first record, deffendo.^[2]
• 13th century – the infinitive defender, and first record of defendedor.^[2][3]
• 14th century – the spelling defeder, and first records of defensor and defendente.^[2][3]
• c. 1430 – the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437) uses defender.^[16]
• 15th century – first record of defesa.^[3]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary lists defender.^[17]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau records defender a causa de alguem “to plead someone's cause”.^[11]
• 1813 – Morais still lists the sense “to forbid”.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To defend, protect against attack or danger;^[2][1][13] (reflexive) to defend oneself.^[2][1][13]
2. To shield, shelter (from cold, illness): Um casaco grosso defende do frio.^[2][13]
3. To speak for; to act as counsel for: defender o acusado.^[2][1]
4. To uphold, argue for (an opinion, a cause).^[2][1]
5. To present and defend (a thesis) before examiners.^[2][1]
6. To forbid, prohibit.^[2][13][14]
7. To perform (a song, a role) well.^[2]
8. (sports) To stop (a shot, a goal); (intransitive) to play in defence.^[2][1]
9. (Brazil, informal) To earn (money) however one can;^[2][15] (reflexive) to get by.^[2][15]

Word family

• defendedor
• defendente
• defendimento
• defendível

Related words

• defensão
• defensar
• defensável
• defensiva
• defensível
• defensivo
• defensor
• defensoria
• defesa
• defeso
• ofender
• Latin dēfendō
• Spanish defender

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. defender
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. defender
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. defender
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2517
6. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 434
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. défendre
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. defendō
9. ^ Lopes, Graça Videira; Ferreira, Manuel Pedro et al. (2011–), Cantigas Medievais Galego-Portuguesas [online database], Lisboa: Instituto de Estudos Medievais, FCSH/NOVA, https://cantigas.fcsh.unl.pt, p. s.v. defender
10. ^ a b 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. defender
11. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. defender
12. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 519
13. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. defender
14. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. defender
15. ^ a b c Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. defender
16. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. defender
17. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. defender