honrar

Forms

honrar (first-person singular present honro, first-person singular preterite honrei, past participle honrado)^[1] Medieval texts write onrrar, onrar and honrrar.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin honōrō (“to honour, treat with distinction”), written Old Galician-Portuguese onrrar and Old Galician-Portuguese onrar in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1][4] The Latin verb is formed from honor (“honour, repute”).^[5][1] Nascentes calls it semi-learned.^[6] The intertonic vowel, between the secondary and the main stress, fell already in Vulgar Latin, as in lavrar and livrar.^[7] Nascentes cites an old form Old Galician-Portuguese ondrar from Nunes's grammar.^[8]

The same Latin verb is Galician honrar, Spanish honrar, Catalan honrar, Italian onorare and French honorer; with the medieval variants Old Spanish ondrar and Old Spanish hondrar.^[1][9] The noun honra is a back-formation from the verb, which Houaiss dates to 1192.^[10][10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria use onrrar for the Virgin honouring her own: muito punna d'os seus onrrar “she strives hard to honour her own”.^[4] Houaiss dates the word to the 13th century from Cunha's slips of medieval Portuguese.^[2] The Crónica Troiana has Paris have Queen Helen greatly honoured and served (fezo onrrar moyto et seruir a rreyna elena).^[4]

Semantic evolution

Medieval texts use it for honouring God, the saints and their churches: the Miragres de Santiago speak of churches that Christians honour for the merits of their saints.^[4] Bluteau gives “to respect, venerate” and “to treat with courtesy”, with honrar pay, & may.^[12] Morais (1789) adds “to ennoble” by giving someone a post or commission.^[13]

Commercial use gave honrar uma firma, to accept or pay a bill that another has refused, in Figueiredo's dictionary of 1899.^[14] The modern senses “to keep one's word” and “to pay a debt” are in Houaiss;^[2][15] Schlee records them in Brazil.^[2][15]

Timeline

• 13th century – onrrar in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[4][2]
• 14th century – onrrar and onrar in the Crónica Geral.^[4]
• 1416 – honrar in the Vida de Santo Aleixo.^[16]
• 1611 – Barbosa glosses Honrar with Latin honoro, decoro and veneror.^[17]
• 1789 – Morais: to declare honoured, to ennoble, to respect.^[13]
• 1899 – Figueiredo records honrar uma firma in commerce.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. To honour; to confer honours on, give credit to.^[2][1][18]
2. To glorify, exalt: honrar os antepassados.^[2][19]
3. To respect, venerate: honrar pai e mãe.^[18][12]
4. To dignify, ennoble;^[2][20] (reflexive) to gain honour, to do oneself credit.^[2][20]
5. To keep (a promise or commitment): honrar o compromisso; to pay off (a debt).^[2][15]
6. (commerce) To pay a bill drawn on (a firm) that another has not paid.^[21][14]
7. To flatter;^[2] (reflexive) to be proud, to feel honoured.^[2]

Word family

• honra
• honrado
• honroso
• honraria
• desonrar
• desonra

Related words

• honor
• honorário
• honorífico
• Latin honōrō
• Spanish honrar

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 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. honrar
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. honrar
4. ^ 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. onrrar
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. honrar
7. ^ Williams, Edwin B. (1938), From Latin to Portuguese: Historical Phonology and Morphology of the Portuguese Language, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, p. § 56
8. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. s.v. honrar
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
10. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. honra
11. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. honra
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. honrar
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, 84
14. ^ a b c Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 709
15. ^ a b c Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. honrar
16. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. honrar
17. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. honrar
18. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. honrar
19. ^ 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. honrar
20. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5013
21. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. honrar