haver

Forms

haver (first-person singular present hei, first-person singular preterite houve, past participle havido)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote aver, without the h-, with the present forms ei, á, avemos, avedes, an.^[2][3] Pereira's dictionary of 1697 still heads the word Aver and refers Haver to it.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin habeō (“to have, hold”), written Old Galician-Portuguese aver in the oldest texts.^[5][2][1] The noun, “possessions; credit”, is the same infinitive used as a noun, as it already was in the medieval language.^[2][3]

The same Latin word is Galician haber, Spanish haber, Catalan haver, French avoir, Italian avere and Romanian avea.^[6][1] The REW notes that the noun meaning “possessions” is shared by Spanish and Portuguese.^[6]

De Vaan traces the Latin verb to Proto-Italic *xabē- (“has taken, holds”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰh₁bʰ- (“to take”), the root of Old Irish gaibid (“takes”).^[7] Despite the likeness, it is not related to the English word have, which is cognate with capiō (“to take”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first date, 1012, is for the form avemus “we have”, taken from Machado's records.^[5] In the 13th-century Cancioneiro da Ajuda the verb means “to have”, and with the adverb i it already forms the impersonal á i “there is”, as Spanish hay and French il y a do: á i gran sazon “it is a long time”.^[3] The noun aver “wealth, goods” is used in the same songs;^[3][8] João Soares Coelho asks to whom he should leave meu haver e mia herdade “my wealth and my estate”.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

Medieval Latin already used habere with an infinitive as an auxiliary of the future and with a past participle as an auxiliary of the past.^[9] The Galician-Portuguese future averá continues habere habet, and the poets of the cancioneiros often preferred á d'aver “has to have” to it.^[3]

Houaiss and Aurélio now label the sense “to possess” old or rare, while the impersonal há “there is” and the construction haver de + infinitive are in full use.^[5][10][11] Folqman (1755) already records haver-se “to behave”.^[12] Morais (1813) gives the noun haver as “riches, goods”, with the plural haveres.^[13] In bookkeeping haver (also há-de-haver) is the credit side of an account.^[14][15]

Timeline

• 1012 – the form avemus, Houaiss's first date, after Machado.^[5]
• 13th century – aver in Galician-Portuguese texts.^[2]
• 13th century, second half – the Cancioneiro da Ajuda uses aver as a verb, in the impersonal á i and as a noun.^[3]
• 1697 – Pereira's Thesouro refers Haver to Aver.^[4]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau notes that the verb is usually rendered in Latin by sum.^[16]
• 1755 – Folqman records haver-se “to behave”.^[12]
• 1797 – first record of the derivative reaver “to get back”.^[17]
• 1813 – Morais enters the noun haver “riches, goods”.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. (impersonal) To exist; there to be: Há um café na esquina.^[5][18][1]
2. (impersonal) To happen, take place: Houve um acidente na estrada.^[5][18][1]
3. (impersonal) Of time, to have passed; ago: Há dez anos que vivo aqui.^[5][19][1]
4. (auxiliary) With a past participle, forms the compound tenses (more formal than ter): Ela já havia saído.^[18][11][1]
5. (auxiliary) With de and an infinitive, expresses obligation, intention or the future: Hei de voltar.^[11][19][1]
6. (old or rare) To have, possess.^[5][10][1]
7. (formal) To obtain, get; to receive.^[5][10]
8. To consider, judge: haver por bem “to see fit”.^[10][18]
9. To get back, recover (something lost or stolen); reaver.^[5][19][1]
10. (reflexive, haver-se) To behave; to deal with or answer to someone.^[18][19][1]

Noun

1. (bookkeeping) The credit side of an account.^[11][18][1]
2. (in the plural, haveres) Possessions, wealth.^[15][19][1]

Word family

• reaver

Related words

• ter
• hábito
• Latin habeō
• Galician haber

Usage notes

In bookkeeping the credit side is also called há-de-haver.^[15][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. haver
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. aver
4. ^ a b 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. haver
5. ^ 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. haver
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3958
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. habeō
8. ^ 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. haver
9. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. habere
10. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. haver
11. ^ 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. haver
12. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. haver
13. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 112
14. ^ a b Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. haver
15. ^ a b c 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. haver
16. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. haver
17. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. reaver
18. ^ a b c d e f Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. haver
19. ^ a b c d e Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 4856