exigir

Forms

exigir (first-person singular present exijo, first-person singular preterite exigi, past participle exigido)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin exigō (“to drive out; to exact, demand payment”), a learned word.^[2][3][1] Nascentes calls it semi-learned.^[4] Its cognate Spanish exigir is a learned word of the same kind, first recorded in 1604, and the DCECH notes that it is absent from the Spanish classics.^[5][6]

The verb is formed from Latin ex- + agō (“to drive”).^[7][1] The base verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- (“to drive”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest text record in the corpora is a private letter dated by 1620 with the subjunctive ezija.^[8] The dictionaries take the word up late: Houaiss's date is that of Morais's dictionary of 1789, and Cunha's is 1813.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Morais in 1813 defines exigir as “to demand, require”, with crimes that call for punishment and needs that call for help, and labels the sense “to ask for as a debt” a modern adoption.^[9] Vieira adds “to claim something by a right, real or supposed” and quotes Alexandre Herculano.^[10] Modern Portuguese keeps both lines: to demand by right or authority, and of things, to need or require.^[2][11][12]

The Latin verb had a wide range, from “to drive out” to “to finish” and “to make someone pay”.^[2][7] Portuguese took only the last.^[2][7]

Timeline

• 1620 – ezija in a private letter.^[8]
• 1789 – first dictionary record, in Morais.^[2]
• 1808 – exigia in a text on Mr Sheridan's motion of 15 June.^[13]
• 1813 – Morais calls one sense of the verb a modern adoption.^[9]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira defines it as claiming something by right.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To demand something as one's right, real or supposed: O cliente exigiu o reembolso.^[2][14][1]
2. (transitive) To impose something on someone by order or authority: O treinador exigiu disciplina à equipa.^[2][15]
3. (transitive) Of a thing: to require, need: Este trabalho exige paciência.^[2][11][1]
4. (transitive) To lay down, prescribe.^[2][16]
5. (transitive) To ask for in an authoritarian or forceful way.^[2][12]

Related words

• exigência
• exigente
• exato
• Latin exigō
• Spanish exigir

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. exigir
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. exigência
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. exigir
5. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
6. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 824
7. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. exigō
8. ^ 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. exigir
9. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 797
10. ^ 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, 513
11. ^ 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. exigir
12. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 4081
13. ^ NEHiLP – Núcleo de Apoio à Pesquisa em Etimologia e História da Língua Portuguesa, Universidade de São Paulo, DELPo: Dicionário Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa (online database), p. s.v. exigir
14. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. exigir
15. ^ 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. exigir
16. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. exigir