ganir

Forms

ganir (first-person singular present gano, first-person singular preterite gani, past participle ganido)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ganniō (“to yelp, whimper”), a verb used of dogs and foxes and, of people, for grumbling or whispering.^[2][3][1] The same Latin verb is Galician ganir, Spanish gañir, Catalan ganyir, Italian gannire and Dalmatian ganer.^[4][1] The Spanish verb is first found in Berceo, of a sick woman who lay moaning “like a mangy cat”.^[5]

The OLD calls the Latin verb imitative.^[6] De Vaan sees its likeliest comparanda in Slavic words for murmuring and speaking through the nose, and explains the double consonant as an onomatopoeic change.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the verb to the 14th century from the slips of the medieval Portuguese index.^[2] In a Galician-Portuguese cantiga it is said of saddles: mais oiu-lhes el ganir / as selas “but he heard the saddles creak”.^[8] Galician dictionaries still give the sense “to creak”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The dictionaries from Cardoso (1569) on translate the verb by Latin gannio.^[10][11] Bluteau defines it as the cry of a dog being beaten, and quotes Varro, for whom it was said properly of animals and by metaphor of men.^[12] Morais (1789) says it of the fox as well.^[13] Vieira adds figurative senses, “to sob, lament” and “to scold in a rage”.^[14] The original Caldas Aulete records the sense “to squeal with cold” and quotes Garrett and Eça de Queirós for “to whine, squeal” of people.^[15]

Timeline

• 14th century – Houaiss's first date.^[2]
• 16th century – Cunha's first date.^[3]
• 1569 – Cardoso translates ganir by Latin ganio.^[10]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau describes the cry of a beaten dog.^[12]
• 1789 – Morais applies the verb to the fox.^[13]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira records the figurative senses “to sob” and “to scold”.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive, of a dog) To yelp or whimper in pain or fear; to give yelps (ganidos): O cão ganiu quando lhe pisaram a pata.^[2][16][1]
2. (intransitive, transitive) To moan like a dog; to utter something in the manner of a yelp.^[2][17][18]
3. (figurative) To weep, lament (lamentar).^[19][16]
4. To scold (ralhar).^[19][14]
5. To squeal with cold.^[18][15]

Related words

• Galician ganir
• Spanish gañir

Usage notes

Aurélio (1975) treats the verb as defective, without a first person singular of the present indicative and without a present subjunctive, while Wiktionary gives the first person gano.^[20][1] In Goiás ganiçar is used in the same sense.^[20]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. ganir
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. ganir
4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3676
5. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 79
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. ganniō
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. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. ganir
9. ^ 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. ganir
10. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ganir
11. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ganir
12. ^ 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. ganir
13. ^ 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, 652
14. ^ a b c 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, 832
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. ganir
16. ^ 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. ganir
17. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. ganir
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. ganir
19. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. ganir
20. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda (1975), Novo dicionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, p. 698