divertir

Forms

divertir (first-person singular present divirto, third-person singular present diverte, first-person singular preterite diverti, past participle divertido)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin dīvertō (“to turn aside, go different ways; to part; to differ”), with a change of conjugation.^[1][2][3][4] Nascentes calls it semi-learned and explains the sense: whoever amuses himself turns away from his usual business.^[5] The Latin verb is made of dis- (“apart”) and vertō (“to turn”), from *wertō and *wert-.^[6][1]

The same Latin verb gave Spanish divertir, Catalan divertir, French divertir and Italian divertire.^[1] The French verb, borrowed in 1370–1380, went the same way as the Portuguese one, from “to turn (someone) away from something” to “to amuse”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is in a text of about 1543, and Cunha dates the verb to the 16th century.^[2][3] The first sense the dictionaries give is “to turn the attention away, distract”: Bluteau (1712–1728) defines it as to take someone's mind off a study or business and to draw him away from an undertaking.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Folqman (1755) already puts “to cheer, amuse” first, with divertir-se “to enjoy oneself”, before “to draw away”.^[9] Morais (1813) still leads with “to distract, divert from a purpose” and records the military sense “to make a diversion”, drawing the enemy off.^[10] Vieira (1871–1874) defines it as “to entertain, amuse, make the time pass pleasantly”.^[11] Today the DLP marks “to turn from one's purpose” and “to take one's mind off something” as little used, and Houaiss marks “to dissuade” as old; the usual senses are “to amuse” and divertir-se “to have fun”.^[12][2]

Cunha dates divertido, divertimento and diversão to the 17th century.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1543 – Houaiss's first record.^[2]
• 1690 – devirtiu in a private letter.^[13]
• 17th century – first records of divertido, divertimento and diversão.^[3]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines the verb as “to distract from a study or business”.^[8]
• 1734 – Feijó notes that it is conjugated like advertir: eu divirto, tu divertes.^[14]
• 1755 – Folqman gives “to cheer, amuse” and divertir-se.^[9]
• 1813 – Morais records the military sense “to make a diversion”.^[10]
• 1871 – Vieira defines it as “to entertain, amuse”.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. To distract, draw (someone's attention or one's own) away from something.^[2][15][1]
2. To make (someone) forget something or lose a habit.^[2][15]
3. To entertain, amuse: O mágico divertiu os convidados.^[2][16][1]
4. To make laugh;^[2][17] (pronominal) to laugh at, be amused by.^[2][17]
5. (pronominal) To have fun, enjoy oneself; to go out to a place of entertainment.^[2][1]
6. (archaic) To dissuade (someone) from something.^[2][15][1]
7. (military) To make a diversion against (the enemy).^[16][10]

Word family

• divertido
• divertimento
• divertidamente

Related words

• diversão
• diverso
• verter
• advertir
• Latin dīvertō

Usage notes

The verb changes its stem vowel like advertir: eu divirto but ele diverte.^[14][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. divertir
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. divertir
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 162
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. divertir
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. dīuertō
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. divertir
8. ^ 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. divertir
9. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. divertir
10. ^ a b c Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 630
11. ^ 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, 1077
12. ^ 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. divertir
13. ^ 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. divertir
14. ^ 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. divertir
15. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. divertir
16. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. divertir
17. ^ 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. divertir