enterrar

Forms

enterrar (first-person singular present enterro, first-person singular preterite enterrei, past participle enterrado)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Portuguese en- + terra + -ar “to put into the earth”, as Houaiss, Aurélio and the DLP analyse it, and first recorded in the 13th century.^[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary instead takes the medieval verb from Vulgar Latin *interrō (“to put into the earth”), formed from in- (“into”) and terra (“earth”).^[1] Du Cange records the verb in Medieval Latin, in the sense “to commit to the ground”.^[6]

The same verb is Galician enterrar, Spanish enterrar, Catalan enterrar, Occitan enterrar, French enterrer and Italian interrare.^[1] García de Diego lists the Castilian verb among the derivatives of the Latin noun.^[7]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Italic *tersā, from Proto-Indo-European *ters-h₂- (“dry land”).^[8] Wiktionary connects it with the root *ters- (“dry”) of the English word thirst.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo antedates Machado's 15th-century record to the Cantigas de Santa Maria: cantiga 419 has enterra seu corpo no Val de Josaphas “buries the body in the Valley of Jehoshaphat”, and cantiga 195 e ar enterraron aquel “and they buried him too”.^[9] The Crónica Troiana tells cõmo enterraron a Dorastolus “how they buried Dorastolus”, and the Crónica Geral uses the verb dozens of times for burials of kings and nobles.^[9]

Semantic evolution

In the medieval texts the verb means to bury the dead.^[9] Barbosa (1611) defines it as putting something under the ground, with the Latin of burying treasure, and Bluteau (1712–1728) as burying the dead, noting that the ancients burned their dead instead.^[10][11] Morais (1789) adds the figurative senses “to hide and make useless”, as in enterrar os talentos, and “to keep secret”.^[12]

Vieira records driving something into the ground, outliving someone and causing someone's death.^[13] Figueiredo (1899) adds stabbing, defeating an opponent in argument and discrediting.^[14] In Rio Grande do Sul it is used for driving a pointed weapon into a body, as in the Spanish of the River Plate.^[15] The sports sense “to dunk” in basketball is recent.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – the Cantigas de Santa Maria use the verb for a burial.^[9][2]
• 1491 – the first record in the CTA corpus, in the Vida de Santo Elói.^[16]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders Enterrar by Latin sepelio.^[17]
• 1594 – a private letter spells it enterar.^[18]
• 1611 – Barbosa defines it as putting something under the ground.^[10]
• 1789 – Morais lists enterrar os talentos and enterrar o segredo.^[12]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira records “to outlive” and “to cause the death of”.^[13]
• 1899 – Figueiredo adds “to stab” and “to defeat in argument”.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. To put under the ground; to bury: enterrar as batatas.^[2][3]
2. To bury a dead person; to inter: Enterraram-no na aldeia onde nasceu.^[2][3][1]
3. To hide in the ground: O cão enterrou a bola no quintal.^[2][3]
4. To drive in deeply; to stab, plunge (a knife, a stake).^[19][20][21]
5. To attend the funeral of; to outlive.^[21][4]
6. (figurative) To cause the death of.^[20][21]
7. (figurative) To put an end to an unpleasant matter; to consign to oblivion.^[20]
8. To defeat in argument; to discredit.^[19]
9. (basketball) To dunk.^[1][22]
10. (reflexive) To sink in; to get bogged down; to compromise oneself.^[23][19]

Word family

• enterramento
• enterro

Related words

• soterrar
• terra
• aterrar
• Spanish enterrar

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. enterrar
3. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. enterrar
4. ^ a b 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. enterrar
5. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. terra
6. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. s.v. interrare
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. terra
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ 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. enterrar
10. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. enterrar
11. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. enterrar
12. ^ 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, 510
13. ^ 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. 3, 176
14. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. enterrar
15. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. enterrar
16. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. enterrar
17. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. enterrar
18. ^ 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. enterrar
19. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. enterrar
20. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 3627
21. ^ 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. enterrar
22. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. enterrar
23. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. enterrar