espancar

Forms

espancar (first-person singular present espanco, first-person singular preterite espanquei, past participle espancado)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Portuguese es- + panca + -ar, from the noun for a thick wooden lever.^[2][3][4][1] Figueiredo explains it as striking with that lever;^[5][6] Vieira instead connected it with pancada “blow”.^[5][6] The origin of the noun is unclear: Nascentes derives it from Vulgar Latin *palanca (“lever”), while Cunha calls it obscure and offers the same Latin form only as a hypothesis.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the verb to the 15th century, spelt espaancar, from Cunha's medieval index;^[2][9] Cunha's own dictionary dates it to the 16th.^[2][9] Cardoso's dictionary of 1569 gives it with Latin mulcto and pulso, “to beat, to strike”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to beat with blows” has been the main one since the first dictionaries.^[10][11] Bluteau and Morais also record espancar o mar “to beat the sea”, for rowing or cruising in vain, from the chronicler Barros.^[11][12] In literary use the verb came to mean “to drive away, to dispel”, as the sun dispels the dark, and “to keep away from”;^[2][13] Houaiss marks these senses as old.^[2][13] In Angola it also means to sell something cheap, and in Cape Verde the reflexive means to bump into something.^[2][4][14]

Timeline

• 15th century – first record, as espaancar.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso lists espancar.^[10]
• 1611 – Barbosa translates it by Latin percutio and afferre manus alicui “to lay hands on someone”.^[15]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines it as beating with a stick and records espancar o mar remando.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as giving blows, grinding with blows.^[16]

Meanings

Verb

1. To beat someone violently with blows; to batter, thrash (surrar).^[2][13][1]
2. (figurative) To drive away; to dispel darkness, fear or sleep.^[2][13][14]
3. (figurative, dated) To keep away from, shun.^[2][13]
4. (nautical, dated) To cruise the sea to drive off an enemy.^[17]
5. (Angola) To sell cheaply.^[2][4]

Word family

• espancamento
• espancador

Related words

• panca
• pancada

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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. espancar
3. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. espancar
4. ^ a b c 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. espancar
5. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 549
6. ^ 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, 318
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. panca
8. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. panca
9. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. espancar
10. ^ a b c Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. espancar
11. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. espancar
12. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 755
13. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. espancar
14. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 3865
15. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. espancar
16. ^ 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, 46
17. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. espancar