dever

Forms

dever (first-person singular present devo, first-person singular preterite devi, past participle devido)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dēbeō (“to owe; to be bound to”), written Old Galician-Portuguese dever, Old Galician-Portuguese deuer and, in 1275, Old Galician-Portuguese diver.^[2][3][1] The noun “duty” is the infinitive used as a noun, first recorded in the 16th century.^[3][1] Spanish made the same noun at about the same time.^[4]

The same Latin verb is Galician deber, Spanish deber, Catalan deure, Occitan dever, French devoir and Italian dovere.^[5][1]

The Latin verb is contracted from dē- and habeō (“to have, hold”), that is, “to hold something away from someone, withhold it”.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first date is 1275.^[2] In the Cancioneiro da Ajuda the verb is only an auxiliary, with a bare infinitive or with a;^[7] dever de with the infinitive is found in a song of King Denis.^[8] The Cantigas de Santa Maria have both senses, debt and duty: Pagar ben pod' o que dever / o que à Madre de Deus fia “he who trusts in the Mother of God can well pay what he owes” and Muito devemos, varões, / loar a Santa Maria “we must greatly, men, praise Holy Mary”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The medieval language also used it in oaths such as fe que devedes “by the faith you owe”.^[8][7] Barbosa (1611) translates it with Latin debeo and gives dever muyto “to be deep in debt”.^[9] Morais (1789) enters the noun dever “obligation”, with quotations from the chronicles.^[10]

Figueiredo (1899) lists the sense of probability, “to be likely that”, which Silva Bastos (1912) also gives.^[11][12] In the plural the noun once also meant schoolwork done at home.^[1] The verb was borrowed into Nheengatu as deveri.^[1]

Timeline

• 1275 – first record, spelt diver.^[2]
• 13th century – the Cantigas de Santa Maria use it for debt and for duty.^[8]
• 16th century – first record of the noun “duty”.^[3]
• 1611 – Barbosa: Dever, Latin debeo.^[9]
• 1755 – Folqman gives dever dinheiro a alguem.^[13]
• 1789 – Morais enters the noun dever “obligation”.^[10]
• 1899 – Figueiredo lists the sense “to be likely that”.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. To owe money or goods; to be in debt: Ainda devo cem euros ao meu irmão.^[2][14][15]
2. (with an infinitive) To have to, to be obliged to; must, should: Os passageiros devem mostrar o bilhete.^[14][15][16]
3. To owe something to someone, to be indebted to them for it: Deve a carreira ao primeiro patrão.^[2][14][15]
4. (auxiliary) Expressing probability: Já devem ser seis horas.^[15][16][17]
5. (intransitive) To have debts.^[14][18]
6. (reflexive, dever-se a) To be due to, to result from.^[16]

Noun

1. duty, a moral obligation; what one must do or avoid by law, morality, custom or conscience.^[15][16][18]
2. (in the plural) Obligations laid down by law, morality or a contract.^[18]
3. (in the plural, dated) homework.^[1]

Word family

• devedor
• deve
• devido
• indevido

Related words

• dívida
• débito
• debitar
• endividar
• Latin dēbeō
• Spanish deber

Usage notes

The proverb quem não deve não teme “who owes nothing fears nothing” is old and common.^[2][19]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. dever
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. dever
4. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. deber
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2490
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. dever
8. ^ a b c d 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. dever
9. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. dever
10. ^ 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, 433
11. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 441
12. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. dever
13. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. dever
14. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. dever
15. ^ a b c d e 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. dever
16. ^ a b c d Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 3108
17. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. dever
18. ^ a b c 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. dever
19. ^ 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. dever