liar

Forms

liar (first-person singular present lio, first-person singular preterite liei, past participle liado)^[1] Houaiss records the spelling lyar in the 14th century.^[2] Universo Cantigas also has the form lear in the cantigas.^[3]

Etymology

Houaiss, Cunha, the REW and García de Diego agree that it is inherited from Latin ligō (“to tie, bind”), with the form Old Galician-Portuguese liar in the oldest texts.^[2][4][5][6] Wiktionary instead considers it possibly borrowed from the French lier, and names Old Galician-Portuguese legar as the inherited form of the old language.^[1] Cunha lists both as 13th-century forms under ligar, which is the semi-learned form of the same Latin verb.^[4][1]

The same Latin verb is Romanian lega, Italian legare, French lier, Occitan liar, Catalan lligar and Spanish liar.^[5] García de Diego records Old Spanish legar and the old variant Old Galician-Portuguese lear.^[6]

The simple Latin verb does not appear before Catullus, while compounds such as alligō and obligō are older; de Vaan derives it from a root Proto-Indo-European *liǵ- (“to tie”), with only Albanian lidh (“to tie”) as a possible cognate.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria of Alfonso X use the verb and its participle: solta-ll' este laço en que jaz liado “loose for him this noose in which he lies bound” and fóronos ben liar de liadura forte “they bound them well with a strong binding”.^[8] In a cantiga d'escarnho by Alfonso X, E pois ali o liou “and when he had tied him there”, and in a cantiga d'amigo by Pero Meogo the girl ties her hair with gold: d'ouro los liei.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau adds the reflexive liar-se “to join in league”, with a quotation from Barros, and Camões uses it for friendship between kings.^[10][11] Morais records a builders' sense: for carpenters, to fit timbers into one another, and for masons, to bond a new wall into an old one.^[12][13]

Today the verb is mostly a synonym of ligar.^[14][15][16] In Barroso in northern Portugal it means to fight, to come to grips.^[17] In Rio Grande do Sul a liar is also a leather strap that ties a horse's hock.^[18]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records, in the cantigas and the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[8][4]
• 14th century – the spelling lyar.^[2]
• 1474 – the derivative liaçam, later liação.^[19]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses it with the Latin religo and vincio.^[20]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau records liar-se “to form an alliance”.^[10]
• 1789 – Morais records the carpenters' and masons' senses.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To tie, bind or fasten with a knot or loop.^[2][21][1]
2. (figurative) To unite by moral or emotional bonds;^[2][1] (reflexive) to become close.^[2][1]
3. To mix metals into an alloy.^[22]
4. (building) To fit timbers into one another, or bond stones of a new wall into an old one.^[12][13]
5. (northern Portugal) To fight, to come to grips.^[17]

Word family

• liação
• liadura

Related words

• ligar
• liame
• Latin ligō
• Spanish liar

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 f Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. liar
3. ^ 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. liar
4. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. ligar
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5024
6. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. ligare
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. ^ a b 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. liar
9. ^ 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. liar
10. ^ 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. liar
11. ^ 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. liar
12. ^ 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. 2, 20
13. ^ a b 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, 1307
14. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. liar
15. ^ 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. liar
16. ^ 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. liar
17. ^ a b Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. liar
18. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. 2, s.v. liar
19. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. liação
20. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. liar
21. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. liar
22. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5667