encher

Forms

encher (first-person singular present encho, first-person singular preterite enchi, past participle enchido)^[1] Houaiss records the spelling incher in 1632.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin impleō (“to fill”), written Old Galician-Portuguese encher in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1][4] The Latin group ⟨mpl⟩ became ⟨nch⟩, as in ancho from amplus;^[5] Williams notes that this change is much older than the one that gave ⟨mpr⟩ in cumprir.^[5]

The same Latin verb is Galician encher, Spanish henchir (Old Spanish enchir and fenchir), Catalan omplir, French emplir and Romanian umple.^[6][1] Corominas explains the Spanish ⟨h⟩ by confusion with hinchar (“to swell”), and points out that the real Galician and Portuguese form has no initial ⟨f⟩.^[7][8] French and several other languages took the verb into the fourth conjugation, from a popular Latin *impliō;^[9][1] Portuguese kept the Latin conjugation.^[9][1]

The Latin verb is formed from in- and pleō (“to fill”), which survives only in compounds.^[10][1] The OLD compares Ancient Greek πίμπλημι (pímplēmi, “to fill”).^[10] Wiktionary, following de Vaan, derives it from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- (“to fill”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's chronology cites the Cantigas de Santa Maria: a pitcher that a man can never fill with water, nunca pod' avĩir / daquel pichel encher d' agua, until he fills it with two of his tears, de mias lagrimas duas enchi tod' este pichel.^[11] The Crónica Troiana has mandou as todas encher d' agoa “he had them all filled with water”.^[11] A cantiga d'escarnho uses the phrase encher melhor fuso, literally “to fill a better spindle”, for doing a good piece of work.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense “to fill a vessel or a space” has been there from the first records.^[11][2] Folqman in 1755 records the rising of the tide, o encher da maré.^[13] Morais in 1813 adds the figurative “to fill with hope or fear”, “to fulfil one's obligations” and encher a Lei “to keep the Law”.^[14]

Brazilian Portuguese gave it the informal sense “to annoy, to lose patience”, and the south has the phrase encher o saco “to pester”.^[2][15] In Bahia and other parts of Brazil it means “to make pregnant”, and a Portuguese dialect survey records the same sense for female animals; the source compares the Latin implere feminas.^[16][2][17] In rural Portugal it also means to stuff sausages at the pig-killing.^[17] The verb passed into Macanese as inchí and enchê.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records, in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[2][3][11]
• 1496 – encher in the História de mui nobre Vespasiano.^[18]
• 16th century – first record of the derivative enchente.^[19]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders it with Latin impleo.^[20]
• 1632 – the spelling incher.^[2]
• 1755 – Folqman records o encher da maré, the flood tide.^[13]
• 1813 – Morais lists the figurative senses “fill with feelings” and “fulfil”.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, also pronominal) To fill a container or a space; to become full: Encheu a garrafa de água.^[2][1]
2. (transitive) To inflate a balloon or a tyre.^[1]
3. (transitive, also pronominal) To satisfy hunger or thirst; to eat one's fill.^[2][21]
4. (transitive) To take up all of something: As reuniões enchem-lhe a semana.^[2][22]
5. (transitive) To carry out a duty or obligation; to fulfil.^[2][23]
6. (transitive) To spread through a place: O cheiro do pão encheu a casa.^[2][22]
7. (transitive) To heap something on someone: encher alguém de elogios.^[2][21]
8. (intransitive) To rise gradually, of the tide.^[2][22]
9. (Brazil, informal) To annoy;^[2][21] (pronominal) to lose patience, to be fed up.^[2][21]
10. (pronominal, informal) To grow rich by dubious means.^[2][24]
11. (Brazil, informal) To make pregnant.^[2][16]

Word family

• preencher
• reencher
• enchente
• enchimento
• enchido

Related words

• cheio
• pleno
• cumprir
• Latin impleō
• Galician encher
• Spanish henchir

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. encher
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. encher
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. encher
5. ^ a b Williams, Edwin B. (1938), From Latin to Portuguese: Historical Phonology and Morphology of the Portuguese Language, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, p. § 95
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4310
7. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. henchir
8. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 341
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. pleō
11. ^ 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. encher
12. ^ 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. encher
13. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. encher
14. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 683
15. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. encher
16. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. encher
17. ^ a b Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. encher
18. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. encher
19. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. cheio
20. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. encher
21. ^ a b c d Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 3505
22. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. encher
23. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. encher
24. ^ 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. encher