duvidar

Forms

duvidar (first-person singular present duvido, first-person singular preterite duvidei, past participle duvidado)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese had dovidar beside dultar and duldar;^[2][3] Houaiss also records dudar in the 14th century and duuydar in the 15th.^[2][3] Feijó's spelling guide of 1734 sets duvidar against dovidar.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dubitō (“to doubt, hesitate”), written Old Galician-Portuguese dovidar in the oldest texts.^[3][2][1] Corominas notes that the ⟨i⟩ of the Portuguese verb shows a semi-learned form, as do Italian dubitare and the ⟨bt⟩ of Catalan dubtar, whereas French douter and Old Occitan dobtar are popular.^[5] The medieval Old Galician-Portuguese duldar and Old Galician-Portuguese dultar, shared with Old Leonese, are the more popular outcomes.^[6][2]

The same Latin verb is Galician dubidar and Spanish dudar, Old Spanish dubdar.^[7][6][5]

The Latin verb is a frequentative of dubō, recorded only in a gloss, itself from an adjective *dubos “in doubt”, beside dubius (“hesitant, doubtful”).^[8][9] De Vaan takes the starting point to be “of two forms, double”, from the root of duo (“two”), and Wiktionary derives it from Proto-Indo-European *dwi- (“two-”) with *bʰuH- (“to be”).^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Lapa's glossary of the cantigas d'escarnho, Johan Baveca writes digu' eu verdad', esto non duvidedes “I tell the truth, do not doubt it”.^[10] Another cantiga has quen dovidaria / que non tiredes gran prol “who would doubt that you will not draw great profit”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Besides “to be uncertain, disbelieve”, the older language used the verb for “to fear” and “to shrink from, refuse”: Morais (1789) gives receyar “to fear” as a sense, and Morais (1813) explains não duvidou a empreza as “he did not refuse the enterprise”.^[12][13] Vieira quotes an old text on knights who must not hesitate to die for their natural lord, nom duvidarem morrer por seu senhor natural.^[14] Medieval Latin dubitare and Old French douter also meant “to fear”.^[15][16]

Bluteau (1712–1728) defines it as “not to be certain of something”, the sense that has prevailed.^[17] In São Paulo it can mean “to challenge, dare”, and in Rio Grande do Sul it has the same uses as dudar from Spanish.^[18][19]

Timeline

• 1200s – first records, spelt dovidar, in the cantigas.^[3][2][10]
• 1300s – the variants dudar and duldar.^[3][2]
• 1400s – Houaiss records duuydar.^[3]
• 1611 – Barbosa glosses it with Latin dubito and haesito.^[20]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau: “not to be certain of something”.^[17]
• 1734 – Feijó rules on duvidar against dovidar.^[4]
• 1813 – Morais records the sense “to refuse, shrink from”.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. To doubt; not to believe or be convinced (of): Duvido que ele venha hoje.^[3][18][1]
2. To be uncertain about; to question: duvidar de uma notícia.^[3][21]
3. To suspect, distrust: duvidar de alguém.^[3][22]
4. To be sceptical; to be in doubt.^[3][18]
5. To hesitate (to do something).^[3][18]
6. (Brazil, São Paulo) To challenge, dare.^[18]

Word family

• dúvida
• duvidoso
• duvidador
• duvidança

Related words

• dúbio
• dubitativo
• indubitável
• dubiedade
• Latin dubito
• Galician dubidar
• Spanish dudar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. duvidar
3. ^ 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. duvidar
4. ^ 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. duvidar
5. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 527
6. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. dubitare
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2781
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. dubitō
9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ 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. duvidar
11. ^ 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. duvidar
12. ^ 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, 459
13. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 644
14. ^ 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, 1154
15. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. dubitare
16. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. douter
17. ^ 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. duvidar
18. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. duvidar
19. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. duvidar
20. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. duvidar
21. ^ 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. duvidar
22. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. duvidar