desertar

Forms

desertar (first-person singular present deserto, first-person singular preterite desertei, past participle desertado)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French déserter according to Cunha, Aurélio, Priberam, the DLP and the Porto dictionary, and the French verb is from Late Latin dēsertō (“to abandon”), the frequentative of Latin dēserō (“to leave, abandon”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} Houaiss derives the Portuguese verb directly from the Late Latin one.^[7] Figueiredo, Silva Bastos and Michaelis instead form it from Portuguese deserto + -ar.^[8][9][10]

Medieval Latin used the verb for “to abandon” and “to lay waste”, and a capitulary of 805 already has it in the sense of the classical verb.^[11][12] The French verb is itself a borrowing from Late Latin, and Spanish desertar is taken from the Latin verb too.^[1][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the verb to 1632; a private letter of 1669 has the participle decertado.^[7][14] Bluteau marks it as a military term: for a soldier, to flee and leave the camp, army, garrison or regiment he belongs to.^[15]

Semantic evolution

Feijó (1734) records a legal use, in lawsuits, for a thing left or abandoned.^[16] Morais (1789) defines only the military sense, to leave the service without leave, meaning to quit it for good.^[17] Vieira adds “to depopulate, make a place deserted”, the forensic “to abandon a case”, and the abandoning of a country, a party or a post.^[18]

The modern dictionaries add going over to the other side, giving up an idea, a feeling that leaves someone, and the withdrawing of a horse from a race.^[7][19] The old Aulete also uses it of a horse that bolts.^[19][4]

Timeline

• 805 – a Latin capitulary uses desertare.^[12]
• 1632 – Houaiss's first record.^[7]
• 1669 – the participle decertado in a private letter.^[14]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau lists the verb as a military term.^[15]
• 1734 – Feijó records its use in lawsuits.^[16]
• 1789 – Morais defines the military sense.^[17]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira adds “to depopulate” and “to abandon a case”.^[18]

Meanings

Verb

1. (military, intransitive) To desert: to leave military service without leave: Dois recrutas desertaram durante a noite.^[7][3][4][1]
2. (transitive) To make (a place) empty of people; to depopulate, despovoar.^[7][3]
3. To abandon a place, a person or a cause; to give up, renounce: desertar de uma promessa.^[7][3][19]
4. To go over to another party, side or country; bandear-se.^[7][19]
5. (figurative, of a feeling) To leave someone.^[7]
6. (law) To abandon an appeal.^[4][6]
7. (horse racing) To withdraw a horse from a race.^[7]
8. (of a horse) To bolt.^[4][19]

Related words

• deserto
• desertor
• deserção
• French déserter
• Latin dēserō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. desertar
3. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. desertar
4. ^ a b c d e Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. desertar
5. ^ 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. desertar
6. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2963
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. desertar
8. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 421
9. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. desertar
10. ^ 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. desertar
11. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. desertare
12. ^ a b du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. s.v. desertare
13. ^ 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, p. s.v. desertar
14. ^ a b 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. desertar
15. ^ 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. desertar
16. ^ a b 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. desertar
17. ^ 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, 410
18. ^ a b 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, 876
19. ^ a b c d e 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. desertar