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descarregar

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Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word descarregar

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1228 spelt descaregar More words from the 13th century
Inherited from
Latin discarrico
Ultimate origin
Gaulish *karros

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /des.ka.ʁeˈɡa(ʁ)/, [des.ka.heˈɡa(h)], /d͡ʒis.ka.ʁiˈɡa(ʁ)/[1]
  • São-Paulo: /des.ka.ʁeˈɡa(ɾ)/, [des.ka.heˈɡa(ɾ)], /d͡ʒis.ka.ʁiˈɡa(ɾ)/[1]
  • Rio-de-Janeiro: /deʃ.ka.ʁeˈɡa(ʁ)/, [deʃ.ka.χeˈɡa(χ)], /d͡ʒiʃ.ka.ʁiˈɡa(ʁ)/[1]
  • Caipira: /des.ka.ʁeˈɡa(ɻ)/, [des.ka.heˈɡa(ɻ)], /d͡ʒis.ka.ʁiˈɡa(ɻ)/[1]

Forms

descarregar (first-person singular present descarrego, first-person singular preterite descarreguei, past participle descarregado)[1] Houaiss records descaregar in 1228, descarregar in 1269 and desquarregar in the 13th century.[2] A form descargar, recorded in 1415, existed in Portuguese but has fallen out of use; it is the usual one in modern Galician.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin discarricō (“to unload”), written Old Galician-Portuguese descaregar in 1228.[2][1] Houaiss calls the Latin verb medieval and formed in parallel with the Late Latin carricō (“to load”), while Cunha calls it Vulgar Latin.[2][4] Aurélio, the DLP, Vieira and Figueiredo analyse the Portuguese verb instead as des- plus carregar.[5][6][7][8]

The same verb is Catalan descarregar, Spanish descargar, Italian discaricare, Old French deschargier and Romanian descărca.[1]

The Latin verb for “to load” is from Latin carrus (“wagon”), which Latin took from Gaulish *karros, from *karros.[1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is from 1228, spelt descaregar.[2] Latin charters of 1254 and 1255 already use the Romance verb for ships unloading, and a Portuguese text of 1286 speaks of those que ueem carregar e descarregar a essa villa “who come to load and unload at this town”.[3] The Crónica Geral has mandou descarregar as azemelas “he had the pack mules unloaded”.[3] The first sense is the unloading of ships and beasts of burden.[3]

Semantic evolution

The medieval records are mostly about ships and their goods, in the charters of ports such as Gaia and Vila do Conde.[3] Cardoso (1569) renders the verb with Latin exonero “to unburden”.[10] Folqman (1755) adds firing artillery or a gun, and Morais (1789) firing at someone, striking a blow and laying the blame on another.[11][12]

Houaiss lists the later senses: rivers emptying their waters, relieving one's conscience or venting one's feelings, taking one's frustrations out on others, storms breaking, and the electrical discharge of a battery.[2] In Portugal the verb also means “to download” a file.[1][13] The noun descarga comes from the medieval descarrega, a back-formation from the verb.[14]

Timeline

  • 1228 – first record, spelt descaregar.[2]
  • 1254 – a Latin charter uses descarregauerit of a ship.[3]
  • 1269 – spelt descarregar.[2]
  • 1286 – carregar e descarregar in a Portuguese document.[3]
  • 1415 – the variant descargar in a Galician document.[2][3]
  • 1561 – descarregando in a private letter.[15]
  • 1569 – Cardoso renders it with Latin exonero.[10]
  • 1755 – Folqman records the discharging of artillery.[11]
  • 1789 – Morais adds “to strike a blow” and “to lay the blame on another”.[12]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To unload (a vehicle or ship); intransitive, of a vehicle, to discharge its load: Os estivadores descarregaram o cargueiro durante a noite.[2][1][16]
  2. To take off (the goods that make up a load).[2][5]
  3. To lighten (something) of an excess load.[2]
  4. Of a river, to empty its waters (into).[2]
  5. To release (someone or oneself) from an obligation or debt.[2][17]
  6. To vent (feelings); to relieve (one's conscience).[2][16]
  7. To take out (one's frustrations) on others; to shift (blame or work) onto someone else.[2][13]
  8. Of a storm, to break or fall (on a place).[2][17]
  9. To deal (a blow) with force.[2][17]
  10. (weapons) To unload (a gun); to fire, discharge.[2][5]
  11. (electricity) To discharge; of a battery, to run down.[2][1]
  12. (Portugal, computing) To download.[1][13][17]

Word family

  • descarga

Usage notes

In Portugal a regional survey of 1970 recorded descarregar in the sense “to give birth”.[18]

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 p q r s t Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. descarregar
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. descarregar
  4. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. carraspana
  5. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. descarregar
  6. ^ 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. descarregar
  7. ^ 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, 823
  8. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 406
  9. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. carregar
  10. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. descarregar
  11. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. descarregar
  12. ^ a b 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, 396
  13. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2875
  14. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. descarga
  15. ^ CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. descarregar
  16. ^ 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. descarregar
  17. ^ a b c d Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. descarregar
  18. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. descarregar

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Descarregar.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/descarregar. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

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