eu

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin eo (“I”), written Old Galician-Portuguese eu in the oldest texts, the popular form of egō (“I”).^[2][1][3][4] Meyer-Lübke considered the shortened form pre-Romance; it occurs in manuscripts of the 6th century, and Nascentes and the scholars he cites date the loss of the /ɡ/ to Vulgar Latin, explaining it by the weak stress of a much-used word.^[5] Nunes held that the /ɡ/ fell without trace and the /e/ closed in hiatus.^[5]

The same Latin word is Spanish yo, Catalan jo, French je, Italian io and Romanian eu.^[6][5] The Latin pronoun goes back to *egō and *h₁eǵ, and is cognate with Ancient Greek ἐγώ (egṓ).^[7][1] Houaiss sets beside it the oblique cases of the Latin pronoun, such as the accusative mē, and compares me.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo antedated Machado's first record of 1265 with eu Eluira Sanchiz “I, Elvira Sanchez” in a document of 1193 and eu Johan Pirit in one of 1242–1252.^[9] In the Cancioneiro da Ajuda and the Cantigas de Santa Maria it is the ordinary subject pronoun, used before consonants and vowels alike.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The pronoun has kept its form and use since the 13th century.^[2][9] Morais (1813) gives its other forms as mim, me and migo.^[10] As a noun, o eu “the self, the conscious being” is defined by Figueiredo (1899) and Silva Bastos (1912), and later dictionaries add the ego of psychology.^[11][12][8] In nonstandard Brazilian Portuguese eu is also used after prepositions, where the standard language has mim.^[1]

The pronoun passed into the Portuguese creoles of Asia: Kristang yo and Macanese io or ieu.^[1]

Timeline

• 1193 – eu Eluira Sanchiz in a document.^[9]
• 13th century – eu in the cantigas and the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[9][8]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses it with Latin ego.^[13]
• 1813 – Morais lists the forms mim, me and migo.^[10]
• 1899 – Figueiredo defines the noun “the self, consciousness”.^[11]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. I; the first-person singular subject pronoun, used by the speaker or writer of himself or herself: Eu chego amanhã.^[8][4][1]
2. (Brazil, nonstandard) me, after a preposition.^[1]

Noun

1. The self; the individuality or personality of a person: o meu eu de então.^[8][4][14]
2. (psychoanalysis) The ego.^[8][15]
3. Self-centredness, egoism.^[8][16]

Related words

• ego
• Latin egō
• Spanish yo

Usage notes

The phrase eu lírico is the poetic voice of a poem.^[8][15] In north-eastern Brazil eu, ele means “if I were him”: eu, ele, não ia.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. eu
3. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. eu
4. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. eu
5. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. s.v. eu
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. ego
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. eu
9. ^ a b c d e 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. eu
10. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 789
11. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. eu
12. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. eu
13. ^ Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. eu
14. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. eu
15. ^ 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. eu
16. ^ 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. eu
17. ^ Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. eu, ele