forçar

Forms

forçar (first-person singular present forço, first-person singular preterite forcei, past participle forçado)^[1]

Etymology

It is probably formed from Portuguese força + -ar, as Houaiss, the DLP and Aurélio have it.^[2][3][4] Houaiss adds that the verb is often traced instead to a Medieval Latin verb meaning “to act by force”, and Wiktionary, the REW and García de Diego take it so, from Vulgar Latin *fortiō (“to force”).^[2][1][5][6] On that view it is the same word as Galician forzar, Spanish forzar, Catalan forçar, French forcer and Italian forzare.^[5][1]

The noun força continues Late Latin fortia (“strength, violence”), originally the neuter plural of Latin fortis (“strong, brave”), taken from phrases such as fortia facta (“brave deeds”).^[1][7] The Old Latin form of the adjective was forctis.^[1][8] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *forkti-, but marks both Indo-European explanations with a question mark.^[9] Wiktionary gives the same two: Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“to rise, high”) or *dʰerǵʰ- (“to make fast, firm”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's chronology finds the verb in a Latin document of about 1234–1236, fortiar, and the spelling forciar in 1267.^[10] In the cantigas it means to overpower someone, to violate and to compel: Dom Dinis writes mais nunca pudi o coraçom forçar “but I could never master my heart”.^[11][10]

Semantic evolution

Already in the cantigas the verb meant both “to force” and “to rape”, and also “to torment” in love poetry, with forçar for the effort of the heart.^[11] The Crónica Troiana uses it for sleep overcoming the Greeks: forçauaos o sono.^[10]

Barbosa (1611) has forçar molher “to rape a woman”, and Bluteau (1712–1728) adds military and nautical uses: forçar huma praça “to take a fortress by storm”, forçar o remo “to row hard” and forçar o tempo, sailing against wind and tide.^[12][13] Morais (1789) records a painters' sense, “to foreshorten”.^[14] Modern dictionaries add the senses “to break open”, “to distort a meaning”, “to fake” (a smile) and, in photography, “to push” a negative.^[2][4][3]

Timeline

• c. 1234–1236 – fortiar in a Latin document.^[10]
• 1267 – the spelling forciar.^[10]
• 13th century – first record of forçar in Portuguese.^[2][15]
• 1569 – Cardoso translates forçar with Latin vim inferre.^[16]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists forçar molher.^[12]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau gives forçar huma praça, forçar o remo and the nautical forçar o tempo.^[13]
• 1789 – Morais records the painters' sense.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. To apply force to something to move, turn or open it: forçar a tranca.^[2][17]
2. To compel or oblige (obrigar) someone to do something;^[1] (reflexive) to make oneself do something: Forçou-se a sorrir.^[2][4][18]
3. To take or enter by force; to break through: forçar as defesas da cidade.^[2][4]
4. To break open, as a door or a lock; to arrombar: Forçaram a janela da cozinha.^[2][4][18]
5. To rape.^[2][17][3]
6. To increase beyond what is needed; to exaggerate.^[2]
7. To distort the meaning of something: forçar o sentido de um texto.^[2][4]
8. (figurative) To do something without sincerity; to fake: forçar uma gargalhada.^[2][3]
9. (figurative) To strain, to push beyond its strength: forçar a vista.^[2][3]
10. (photography) To develop a negative longer than normal to make up for underexposure.^[4][3]

Word family

• forçado
• forçador

Related words

• força
• forte
• esforçar
• reforçar
• Latin fortis
• Spanish forzar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. forçar
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. forçar
4. ^ a b c d e f g Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. forçar
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. *fortiare
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. *fortiare
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. *fortia
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. fortis
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ 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. forçar
11. ^ a b Lopes, Graça Videira; Ferreira, Manuel Pedro et al. (2011–), Cantigas Medievais Galego-Portuguesas [online database], Lisboa: Instituto de Estudos Medievais, FCSH/NOVA, https://cantigas.fcsh.unl.pt, p. s.v. forçar
12. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. forçar
13. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. forçar
14. ^ 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, 35
15. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. força
16. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. forçar
17. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. forçar
18. ^ 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. forçar