deter

Forms

deter (first-person singular present detenho, first-person singular preterite detive, past participle detido)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote deteer and detẽer, and Houaiss also records detéér and deter in the 13th century.^[2][3] The verb is conjugated like ter: detenho, detive, detido.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dētineō (“to hold back, detain”), written Old Galician-Portuguese deteer in the oldest texts.^[2][1][3] Nascentes traces it through a Latin form with the stem vowel of the simple verb, ⟨-tenere⟩ for ⟨-tinere⟩, and then through the medieval form, with the Latin -n- between vowels lost and the two vowels later reduced to one.^[4][2] Following Nunes, he explains that the -t- was not voiced because speakers were aware of the compound.^[5]

The same Latin verb is Spanish detener and Catalan detenir.^[6] French détenir was borrowed from Latin in the 12th century and adapted to the verb tenir.^[7]

The Latin verb is formed with dē- on teneō (“to hold”), the source of ter.^[8][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's chronology finds the verb in a text of 1242–1252, e ouuo se a deteer y logo “and he had to stay there at once”.^[3] The Cantigas de Santa Maria use it reflexively for stopping or lingering, sse non detevera nenllur “he had not stopped anywhere”, and transitively for holding something back, que a carta non lle fosse detẽuda “that the letter should not be withheld from him”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

In the medieval prose of the Crónica Troiana the verb means “to delay”, and with se “to stop, to stay”.^[3] The early dictionaries give the same senses: Cardoso (1569) renders it with Latin detineo and moror “to delay”, and Barbosa (1611) adds retardo.^[10][11] Vieira (1871–1874) defines it as to delay, suspend or stop, and quotes an old royal law with the form deteer.^[12]

Modern dictionaries add “to keep in one's possession”, “to restrain (tears, laughter)” and “to arrest, hold in custody”.^[13][14] Wiktionary also records the business sense “to own (shares, a company)”.^[1]

Timeline

• 1242–1252 – deteer in a Galician-Portuguese text.^[3]
• 13th century – first record according to Houaiss; the Cantigas de Santa Maria have detẽer and detevera.^[2][9]
• 14th century – deteer in the Trasladação de São Nicolau.^[15]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders it detineo, moror.^[10]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists detineo, retineo, tardo and moror.^[11]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira derives it from Latin detinere.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To stop; reflexive, to come to a stop: O guarda deteve o carro na ponte.^[2][13][1]
2. To delay or keep (someone); reflexive, to linger: Detive-me na loja mais do que queria.^[2][13]
3. To hold back, restrain (tears, a feeling); reflexive, to restrain oneself.^[2][16]
4. To keep in one's possession; to hold (a right, a document): deter a maioria das ações.^[13][14][1]
5. To put off (an answer, a decision).^[13]
6. To arrest, hold in custody.^[13][14][1]
7. (reflexive) To dwell at length on (something).^[17][16]

Related words

• detenção
• detento
• detentor
• ter
• Latin dētineō
• Spanish detener

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. deter
3. ^ a b c d e 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. deteer
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. deter
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. s.v. deter
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. detinere
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. détenir
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. dētineō
9. ^ 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. detẽer
10. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. deter
11. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. deter
12. ^ 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, 965
13. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. deter
14. ^ a b c 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. deter
15. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. deteer
16. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 3097
17. ^ 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. deter