estorvar

Forms

estorvar (first-person singular present estorvo, first-person singular preterite estorvei, past participle estorvado)^[1] Metathesised forms occur from the 15th century: estrouado in 1431 and estrovar in a letter of 1556.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin exturbō (“to drive out, expel”).^[4][5][6][7] Houaiss notes that the Latin verb also meant “to pull down, demolish” and, figuratively, “to disturb, confuse”.^[4] Wiktionary allows another source, Old Galician-Portuguese destorvar, which Cunha derives from Latin disturbō and which is recorded earlier.^[1][5] Silva Bastos and Figueiredo derived it from torvar, as Adolfo Coelho had done.^[8][9][10]

The same Latin verb is Spanish estorbar and Italian sturbare.^[7][1] García de Diego thinks that the Spanish verb also took in dēturbō and the Latin verb with dis-.^[11] Corominas dates the Spanish verb to 1495 and the older destorvar to about 1250.^[12] The forms with dis- are Catalan destorbar, Occitan destorbar and Old French destorber.^[1]

The Latin verb is formed from ex- and turbō (“to disturb, throw into confusion”).^[13][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's chronology has destoruare several times in laws of 1209.^[2] The Cantigas de Santa Maria use estorvar: Holy Mary, “our advocate”, sometimes holds us back from the evil we intend, a vegadas nos estorva do mal que pensamos, and a king's servant has many enemies que o estorvavan with the king.^[2][2] Pero da Ponte plays on both verbs: ou que podess' eu estoruar / a que me sempre destoruou.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa translates the verb with Latin impedio and obsto, and also “to interrupt someone speaking”.^[14] Morais adds taking up someone's time, thwarting plans, and a fishing term, estorvar o anzol, to tie the hook again near its head so the fish cannot cut it.^[15] Houaiss and Michaelis still record that fishing sense.^[4][16] Vieira quotes Damião de Góis's chronicle of King Manuel for “to oppose, prevent”.^[17] The noun estorvo “hindrance” is recorded from the 13th century.^[5]

Timeline

• 1209 – destoruare in laws.^[2]
• 13th century – estorvar in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[2][5]
• 13th century – first record of the noun estorvo.^[5]
• 1431 – the metathesised estrouado.^[2]
• 1556 – estrovar in a private letter.^[3]
• 1611 – Barbosa glosses it with Latin impedio.^[14]
• 1789 – Morais records estorvar o anzol.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. To hinder, to prevent or thwart (something); (with de) to keep (someone) from doing something: A chuva estorvou o passeio.^[4][18][1]
2. To make difficult, to hamper.^[4][19]
3. To get in the way of, to bother (someone); (pronominal) to put oneself out: Não te quero estorvar enquanto estudas.^[4][20]
4. To restrict (someone's freedom of movement): As botas pesadas estorvavam-lhe a corrida.^[4][18]
5. To divert or block (a flow, a passage).^[4][20]
6. (reciprocal) To get in each other's way.^[4]
7. (fishing) To tie (a hook) again close to its head so that it does not slip.^[4][16]

Word family

• estorvo

Related words

• turbar
• Spanish estorbar

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 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. estorvar
3. ^ a b 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. estorvar
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. estorvar
5. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. estorvar
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. estorvar
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3109
8. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. estorvar
9. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. estorvar
10. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 199
11. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. exturbare
12. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. turbar
13. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. exturbō
14. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. estorvar
15. ^ 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, 66
16. ^ a b 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. estorvar
17. ^ 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, 432
18. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. estorvar
19. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. estorvar
20. ^ a b Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. estorvar