frigir

Forms

frigir (first-person singular present frijo, third-person singular present frege, first-person singular preterite frigi, past participle frigido, short past participle frito)^[1] Houaiss records the medieval form friger in the 14th century and frigir from the 15th.^[2] The verb has two past participles, regular frigido and short frito.^[1][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin frīgō (“to roast, fry”), first recorded as Old Galician-Portuguese friger.^[2][4][1][5] Houaiss dates the verb to the 14th century from Cunha's medieval index, while Cunha's own dictionary dates it only to Morais's of 1813; its participle frito is already 13th-century.^[2][4]

The same Latin verb is Galician frixir, Spanish freír, Catalan fregir, Occitan fregir, French frire, Italian friggere and Romanian frige.^[6][1]

De Vaan notes that the Latin verb is very close to Ancient Greek φρύγω (phrúgō, “to roast”) but cannot be matched with it by the sound laws, so it may be a loanword from a third language or an indirect borrowing from Greek.^[7] Wiktionary considers a root Proto-Indo-European *bʰer(H)-g- (“to roast”), comparing Sanskrit भृज्जति (bhṛjjati, “roasts”), but notes that the Latin /iː/ does not fit it.^[1]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau defines the verb as cooking briefly in the frying pan in oil, butter or another sauce, and Morais as cooking fish or meat in boiling oil or butter.^[8][9] Vieira adds the figurative deixar-se frigir no seu azeite, to torment oneself with troubles of one's own making.^[10] The original Caldas Aulete records a familiar intransitive sense, to show off in public hoping to be admired, which Figueiredo also gives.^[11][12] Houaiss and Aurélio add the figurative “to pester, harass with questions”.^[2][13]

In everyday use the derivative fritar, first recorded in 1881, has largely taken over the sense “to fry”: Aulete defines frigir by a cross-reference to it.^[4][11]

Timeline

• 14th century – friger.^[2]
• 15th century – frigir.^[2]
• 1500s – first record of frigideira “frying pan”.^[4]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses frigir with Latin frigo.^[14]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau records the saying Ao frigir dos ovos o vereis.^[8]
• 1734 – Feijó discusses the irregular present frijo, freges, frege.^[15]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira records deixar-se frigir no seu azeite.^[10]
• 1881 – first record of fritar.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fry: to cook food in butter, oil or another fat; fritar.^[2][13][1]
2. (intransitive) To be fried; to get very hot and begin to bubble.^[13][16]
3. (figurative) To pester or torment;^[2][13] (reflexive) to fret, be tormented.^[2][13]
4. (informal, intransitive) To show off in public, to boast of one's importance.^[2][12]

Word family

• frigideira
• frito
• fritar
• fritada
• fritura
• frita

Related words

• Latin frigo
• Galician frixir
• Spanish freír

Usage notes

The present tense has an irregular form with e in the stem, frijo, freges, frege, frigimos, frigis, fregem.^[3][1] Feijó (1734) recorded both this and a regular conjugation frijes, frije, which he preferred because of the Latin.^[15]

The saying ao frigir dos ovos “when the eggs are fried” means when the outcome is known;^[8] Bluteau explains Ao frigir dos ovos o vereis as a mocking answer to someone who will soon find out, to his cost, what he is asking about.^[8]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. frigir
3. ^ 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. frigir
4. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. frigir
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. frigir
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3510
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 Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. frigir
9. ^ 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, 638
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, 775
11. ^ 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. frigir
12. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. frigir
13. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. frigir
14. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. frigir
15. ^ 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. frigir
16. ^ 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. frigir