governar

Forms

governar (first-person singular present governo, first-person singular preterite governei, past participle governado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin gubernō (“to steer a ship; to direct, govern”), written Old Galician-Portuguese governar in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1]

The same Latin word is Galician gobernar, Spanish gobernar, Catalan governar, French gouverner and Italian governare.^[4][1] Houaiss suggests that the political sense was reinforced by the French verb, which has meant “to exercise authority” since about 1050.^[2]

The Latin verb was borrowed from the language of seamanship, Ancient Greek κυβερνάω (kubernáō, “to steer”).^[5][6][1] Nascentes recalls the old image, found in Horace, of the state as a ship, which made “steer” into “rule”.^[7] The Greek verb has no certain etymology: Wiktionary reports Beekes's view that it is a Pre-Greek word, and another proposal that links it with Ancient Greek κύρβεις (kúrbeis).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Cantigas de Santa Maria the verb means to keep or provide for: the Mother of God quis governar aqueles monges seus “chose to feed those monks of hers”, and a poor woman spins wool per que ss'ambos governavan “by which the two of them made their living”.^[8] A document of 1317 quoted by Viterbo uses it in the same sense of maintaining someone.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The old sense of maintaining and providing survives in the reflexive governar-se “to manage one's affairs” and in the Portuguese governar a vida “to earn a living”.^[10][11] The political and administrative senses dominate from the early dictionaries on: Barbosa (1611) renders it with Latin guberno and administro, and Bluteau (1712–1728) gives governing a kingdom before steering a ship.^[12][13] Morais (1789) records the intransitive use of a ship that answers its helm or steers north or south.^[14]

Cunha dates governo to the 13th century, governador to the 14th and governança and governação to the 15th.^[3] Figueiredo (1899) records a salt-makers' sense, to fill a salt pan with water.^[15]

Timeline

• 13th century – first record, in the Cantigas de Santa Maria;^[2][3][8] governo is of the same century.^[2][3][8]
• 1317 – que o governassem “that they should maintain him” in a document.^[9]
• 14th century – first record of governador.^[3]
• 15th century – governança, governação and desgovernar.^[3]
• 1611 – Barbosa renders it with guberno, administro and rego.^[12]
• 1789 – Morais records o navio governa “the ship answers the helm”.^[14]
• 1899 – Figueiredo records the salt-pan sense.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, intransitive) To govern, rule: to direct a state or nation as head of government.^{[2][16][17][1]}
2. (transitive) To manage, administer, as a household or a business.^[16][11]
3. (transitive) To steer a ship or vehicle; to control an animal's movement.^[16][17][10]
4. (transitive) To have power or influence over; to control.^[16][17][18]
5. (intransitive, nautical) Of a ship, to answer the helm.^[17][14]
6. (pronominal) To conduct oneself; to manage one's own affairs, to get by.^[10][11]
7. (salt-making) To fill a salt pan with water.^[15]

Word family

• governo
• governador
• governação
• governança
• governante
• governanta
• governável
• governativo
• governista
• desgovernar
• desgoverno

Related words

• Latin gubernō
• Galician gobernar

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. governar
3. ^ a b c d e f Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. governar
4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3903
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. gubernō
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. gouverner
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 246
8. ^ a b c 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. governar
9. ^ a b 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. 2, 22
10. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. governar
11. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 4749
12. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. governar
13. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. governar
14. ^ a b c 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, 64
15. ^ a b c Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 674
16. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. governar
17. ^ a b c d 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. governar
18. ^ 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. governar