desenhar

Forms

desenhar (first-person singular present desenho, first-person singular preterite desenhei, past participle desenhado)^[1] The first record is spelt desegnar (1571); the noun appears as desenho, dessenho and disenho in the 16th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin dēsignō (“to mark out, trace, designate”), with the influence of disegnare, according to Houaiss.^[2] Nascentes and Aurélio derive it from the Italian verb alone, as does the REW, while the DLP, Porto Editora and Michaelis give only the Latin.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9]} Wiktionary has the Latin verb, possibly through Italian.^[1] The Italian verb, recorded from 1282, is the popular outcome of the Latin one.^[10][11] The Latin verb is formed from dē- and signō (“to mark”), from signum (“mark, sign”).^[12][13][1]

The learned designar is a doublet from the same Latin verb.^[2][1] French dessiner was taken from Italian too, first as désigner (1529) and remade in the 17th century, and Spanish diseñar is Italian as well.^[14][15][6] Houaiss dates the noun desenho to 1567 and takes it as formed from the verb under the influence of disegno.^[3] Cunha's first record of the noun is from 1571.^[16]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is desegnar in a text of 1571; the noun desenho is four years older, from 1567.^[2][3] Bluteau's examples are figurative: to sketch something in the mind, to conceive an idea, quoting Lucena's life of St Francis Xavier: quaes eraõ as Igrejas, que desenhava no pensamento “what the churches were that he drew in his mind”.^[17]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau and Feijó give the sense “to form an idea, to plan in the mind” before “to draw on paper”.^[17][18] Morais (1789) defines it as to trace in the imagination, then to sketch on paper what has been traced in the mind, and to project, plan.^[19] By Vieira's time the first sense is drawing the outline of an object, with a musical use, to conceive the plan of a composition.^[20] The modern dictionaries add the reflexive “to take shape, to stand out” (a shadow against a wall, a smile on the lips) and the sense “to design” furniture, buildings or clothes.^[2][21] Tetum has dezeña from the Portuguese verb.^[1]

Timeline

• 1282 – Italian desegnare, later disegnare.^[10]
• 1529 – French désigner borrowed from the Italian verb.^[14]
• 1567 – the noun desenho.^[3]
• 1571 – desegnar, and the agent noun desenhador.^[2][22]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau gives “to conceive in the mind” and “to draw on paper”.^[17]
• 1789 – Morais: to trace in the imagination; to sketch on paper; to project.^[19]
• 1885 – first record of desenhista.^[23]

Meanings

Verb

1. To draw: to represent something by lines and shading on a surface; intransitively, to make drawings.^[2][1][24]
2. (figurative) To describe or portray by means other than drawing, in words or sounds.^[2][5]
3. (reflexive) To appear, take shape, stand out: a serra desenhava-se contra o céu.^[2][8]
4. To trace the lines of a plan or scheme; to outline.^[2]
5. (figurative) To conceive, plan, design: desenhar uma cadeira.^[2][21]
6. To bring out the outline of; to show off (the shape of the body).^[2][9]

Word family

• desenho
• desenhador
• desenhista

Related words

• designar
• sinal
• Italian disegnare
• Spanish diseñar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. desenhar
3. ^ a b c d Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. desenho
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. desenhar
5. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. desenhar
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ 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. desenhar
8. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2947
9. ^ 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. desenhar
10. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
15. ^ 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
16. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. desenho
17. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. desenhar
18. ^ 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. desenhar
19. ^ 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, 408
20. ^ 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, 871
21. ^ a b 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. desenhar
22. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. desenhador
23. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. desenhista
24. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. desenhar