firmar

Forms

firmar (first-person singular present firmo, first-person singular preterite firmei, past participle firmado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin firmō (“to make firm, strengthen; to confirm”), written Old Galician-Portuguese firmar in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][5] The Latin verb is formed from firmus (“firm, stable”).^[6][1] It kept its ⟨i⟩ in Portuguese and Spanish: the REW brackets Spanish firmar and the Portuguese verb as not regular popular outcomes, and García de Diego calls the Spanish verb learned beside the popular hirmar “to secure”.^[7][8]

The same Latin verb is Galician firmar, Catalan fermar, French fermer and Italian fermare.^[7][1] In French it came to mean “to close”.^[9]

The Latin adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *fermos, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰer-mo-, a derivative of *dʰer- (“to hold”).^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's earliest dates, firmadas in 1108 and firmar in 1159, come from Machado's records, which are Latin charters.^[2] In Galician-Portuguese verse, a cantiga of Pero da Ponte in the Cancioneiro da Ajuda says Deus fez e firmou o mundo “God made the world and set it firm”, and the same songbook uses the verb for “to affirm”.^[4] The Crónica Troiana uses it for confirming an agreement or a love.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense “make firm, fix” and the legal sense “confirm, ratify” were both present in the medieval language.^[4] Viterbo's Elucidário records old legal uses: to swear an oath of calumny, and to prove.^[11] Morais (1789) gives firmar a carta “to sign one's name to a letter or deed in confirmation of it”, the sense behind firma “signature”.^[12][2] Feijó (1734) warned against the form frimar.^[13]

Modern dictionaries add figurative uses: to settle an opinion, to establish oneself in a position, and, of the weather, to become settled.^[2][14]

Timeline

• 1108 – Latin charters have firmadas;^[2] firmar in 1159.^[2]
• 13th century – firmar in Galician-Portuguese texts.^[2][3]
• 1577 – first record in the Post Scriptum letters, as firmado.^[15]
• 1697 – Pereira's Thesouro lists the verb.^[16]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau gives firmar os dentes abalados “to make loose teeth firm”.^[17]
• 1734 – Feijó prescribes firmar, not frimar.^[13]
• 1789 – Morais records firmar a carta, to sign a deed.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive and reflexive) To make or become firm (firme), stable or fixed: firmou bem o poste no chão.^[2][18][1]
2. (transitive and reflexive) To lean (apoiar) or prop firmly against something; to steady oneself.^[2][19]
3. To fix (the eyes, the attention) on something.^[2][18]
4. To establish; to conclude (an agreement or treaty); to ratify, sanction.^[2][20]
5. (transitive and reflexive) To strengthen, consolidate; to settle (an opinion, a reputation).^[2][14]
6. (reflexive) To become recognised as: firmou-se como cantora.^[2]
7. (transitive and reflexive) To base on; to rest (an argument) on.^[2][21]
8. (intransitive and reflexive) Of the weather, to become settled.^[2]
9. To sign, put one's signature (firma) to: firmar uma escritura.^[2][20][1]

Word family

• firma

Related words

• firme
• afirmar
• confirmar
• Latin firmō

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 m n o p Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. firmar
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. firmar
4. ^ a b c d 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. firmar
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. firmar
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3318
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. firmare
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. fermer
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 465
12. ^ 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, 618
13. ^ a b 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. firmar
14. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. firmar
15. ^ 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. firmar
16. ^ 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. firmar
17. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. firmar
18. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. firmar
19. ^ 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. firmar
20. ^ 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. firmar
21. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 4317