jogar

Forms

jogar (first-person singular present jogo, first-person singular preterite joguei, past participle jogado)^[1] Medieval texts also write jugar and iugar.^[2][3] Bluteau (1712) heads the verb jugar, while Feijó (1734) argues for jogar, since every form of the verb is said with jo-.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin iocō (“to jest”), the active form that in popular Latin replaced the deponent iocor, itself from iocus (“joke, jest”).^[2][3][1] Romance added to the Latin sense the notions of chance and luck.^[2] In the same way the Latin noun displaced classical lūdus (“game”).^[6] Nascentes takes the verb as semi-learned.^[7]

In the 13th century the verb alternated with Old Galician-Portuguese jugar.^[2] Portuguese kept the form with ⟨o⟩ and Spanish the one with ⟨u⟩.^[2] The same Latin verb is Galician xogar, Spanish jugar, Catalan jugar, Occitan jogar, French jouer, Italian giocare and Romanian juca.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cunha dates the verb and its variant jugar to the 13th century.^[3] The Cantigas de Santa Maria have jogavan dados “they played dice” and jogavan à pelota “they played ball”.^[9] In the Crónica Troiana and the satirical cantigas the verb also means “to jest, to mock”, closer to the Latin sense.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

Besides playing and jesting, the cantigas use the verb for putting oneself at risk.^[10] Gambling, betting and risking something at play are central senses in Houaiss, and the verb was extended to handling a weapon with skill, to the rolling of a ship and to the play of a mechanism.^[2] The sense “to throw” is now very common, especially in Brazil, where jogar fora means to throw away.^[2][11]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records; the Cantigas de Santa Maria have jogavan dados.^[3][9]
• c. 1446 – jogar in the Dez Mandamentos.^[12]
• 1712 – Bluteau refers jogar to jugar.^[4]
• 1734 – Feijó defends the spelling jogar.^[5]
• 1755 – Folqman glosses it with Latin ludere.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. To play a game or sport; to take part in a game.^[2][14][1]
2. To gamble; to stake or lose something at play; to bet.^[2][14][1]
3. To risk, venture or stake something.^[2][15]
4. To handle with skill: jogar a espada “to fence”.^[2]
5. To make use of something, to play on it.^[2]
6. To throw, hurl.^[2][15][1]
7. To swing or rock, especially of a ship.^[2][15]
8. To move freely, to work (of a mechanism).^[2]
9. To go well together, to match.^[2][1]
10. (reflexive) To throw oneself, jump.^[2][16]

Word family

• jogada
• jogador
• jogável
• jogabilidade

Related words

• jogo
• jogral
• joguete
• Latin iocus
• Galician xogar
• Spanish jugar

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 k l m n o p q Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. jogar
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. jogo
4. ^ 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. jogar
5. ^ 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. jogar
6. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. jogo
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. jogar
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4585
9. ^ 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. jogar
10. ^ a b 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. jogar1
11. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. jogar
12. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. jogar
13. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. jogar
14. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. jogar
15. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5484
16. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. jogar