esconder

Forms

esconder (first-person singular present escondo, first-person singular preterite escondi, past participle escondido)^[1] The 13th-century forms were asconder and the Latinising abscõder;^[2][3] esconder appears in the 14th century.^[2][3] Medieval texts have the participle ascondudo.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin abscondo (“to hide, conceal”), first written Old Galician-Portuguese asconder.^[2][3][1] The Latin verb is formed from abs- (“away”) and condo (“to put away, store”).^[5][1]

The initial ⟨as-⟩ became ⟨es-⟩, a change of prefix in Nascentes's words.^[6] Nunes put it down to analogy with the many words beginning with ⟨es-⟩, Cornu to the influence of the sibilant; the group /bsk/ was reduced to /sk/.^[7]

The same Latin word is Galician esconder, Spanish esconder, Old Spanish asconder, Catalan escondir, Old French escondre, Italian ascondere and Romanian ascunde.^[8][1] Spanish went through the same change: the old form is the only one in the Cid, and the modern one appears in Juan Ruiz.^[9]

Wiktionary notes the learned doublet absconder.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is recorded from the 13th century as asconder.^[3][2] The Cantigas de Santa Maria speak of o tesour'... que tĩian ascondudo “the treasure they had hidden”, and use the reflexive for someone who shuts himself in and hides.^[4] Lorenzo's earliest esconder is in the Miragres de Santiago, which he dates to the 14th or 15th century.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed “to hide, conceal” throughout; the cantigas use asconder both for hiding objects and for hiding oneself.^[4][11] Morais (1813) adds the figurative não se me esconde “I am not unaware of it”.^[12] Modern dictionaries add keeping a secret, disguising one's feelings and living far from society.^[2][13]

In Brazil esconde-esconde is the game of hide-and-seek, and in the south esconder o leite is said of a cow that holds back her milk, and figuratively of someone who goes back on a promise.^[14][15]

Timeline

• 13th century – asconder and abscõder.^[2][3]
• 14th century – the form esconder.^[2][3]
• c. 1430 – esconder in the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437).^[16]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary has Esconder.^[17]
• 1734 – Feijó lists esconder and escondrijo.^[18]

Meanings

Verb

1. To hide, to put someone or something where it cannot be seen or found: Escondi as chaves na gaveta.^[2][19][1]
2. (reflexive) To hide oneself: O gato escondeu-se debaixo da cama.^[2][20]
3. To keep secret, not to reveal: Esconde a idade de todos.^[2][13]
4. To mask, conceal a feeling: Sorria para esconder o medo.^[2][19]
5. To cover, to keep out of sight.^[2][20]

Word family

• esconderijo
• esconde-esconde
• escondidas

Related words

• absconder
• Latin abscondo
• Galician esconder

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. esconder
3. ^ 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. esconder
4. ^ a b c 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. asconder
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. abscondo
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. esconder
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 1, 186
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 41
9. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 704
10. ^ 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. esconder
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. asconder
12. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 741
13. ^ 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. esconder
14. ^ 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. esconder
15. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. esconder
16. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. esconder
17. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. esconder
18. ^ 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. esconder
19. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. esconder
20. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. esconder