ligar

Forms

ligar (first-person singular present ligo, first-person singular preterite liguei, past participle ligado)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese had legar and liar; the forms legou (13th century), legua and ligo (14th century) are recorded, and aligar in 1876.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ligō (“to tie, bind”), written Old Galician-Portuguese legar in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4] Wiktionary takes the modern form to be semi-learned, with the ⟨i⟩ of the Latin word restored beside the inherited old form.^[1] Corominas says the same of the Spanish form ligar, which displaced inherited legar early.^[5] Lorenzo's chronology cites Machado's dates: the old form in the 14th century and the modern one only in the 16th.^[4]

A third form, liar, is already in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[6] Corominas thought this Portuguese verb was first recorded in the mid-16th century and owed its figurative and nautical senses to French.^[5]

The same Latin verb is Catalan lligar, French lier, Italian legare and Romanian lega.^[1][7]

De Vaan notes that the simple Latin verb is not found before Catullus, the older forms being compounds, and derives it from a root Proto-Indo-European *liǵ- (“to tie”); its only probable cognate is Albanian lidh (“to tie”).^[8] Wiktionary gives the root as Proto-Indo-European *leyǵ- (“to bind”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A text of 1228 has leguen los pees do cauallo “let them tie the horse's feet”.^[4] In the Cantigas de Santa Maria the devil legou forte no vencello “bound fast in the tie” a woman's virginity, and the Fuero Real uses the verb in the same physical sense.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712–1728) records ligar metaes “to alloy metals”, a sense Medieval Latin ligare already had, and the figurative ligar os ânimos “to win people's hearts”.^[9][10] Morais (1789) adds “to bind someone to oneself by favours”, the taking effect of an excommunication and ligar um homem, to make a man impotent by witchcraft.^[11] Vieira (1871–1874) has the musical sense, joining notes with a slur.^[12]

In Brazil the verb came to mean “to dial a number” and “to telephone”, and, with para, “to care about”.^[2][1] The senses “to switch on” a device and “to start” an engine are now common to Brazil and Portugal.^[2][13]

Timeline

• 1228 – leguen los pees do cauallo.^[4]
• 13th century, second half – legou in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[4][2]
• 14th century – legua and ligo.^[2]
• 1697 – Pereira enters Ligar and refers it to Liar.^[14]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau records ligar metaes.^[9]
• 1789 – Morais records ligar “to bind by favours” and ligar um homem.^[11]
• 1876 – the variant aligar.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To tie, bind, fasten with a cord or band.^[2][15][16]
2. To join, connect (what was separate): ligar os dois cabos.^[2][15][1]
3. To link (places), put in communication: Uma ponte liga as duas margens.^[2][15]
4. To associate, relate (facts or ideas).^[2][1]
5. To unite by ties of affection or interest;^[2][16] (reflexive) to ally oneself.^[2][16]
6. To mix, combine; to alloy (metals); to thicken (a sauce).^[2][16][1]
7. (surgery) To ligate (a vessel).^[2][1]
8. To switch on (a device); to start (an engine).^[2][13][1]
9. To telephone, call; to dial (a number).^[2][13][1]
10. (informal, with para or a) To care about, pay attention to: Ele não liga para futebol.^[2][13][1]

Word family

• desligar
• interligar
• religar
• liga

Related words

• ligação
• ligadura
• obrigar
• liar
• ligamento
• Latin ligō
• Spanish ligar

Usage notes

In Rio Grande do Sul ligar is also a noun, an altered form of ligal, the same as ligário: a cowhide spread over the loads carried by pack animals.^[2][15][17]

A Brazilian verb ligar, used in the south, means “to be lucky, especially at cards” and, in card games, “to match the cards drawn with those in hand”.^[2] Nascentes takes it from the ligar of the River Plate, and Schlee records it in Rio Grande do Sul with that origin.^[18][19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 r s t Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. ligar
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. ligar
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. legar
5. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 647
6. ^ 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
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. ligare
8. ^ 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. ligō
9. ^ 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. ligar
10. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. ligare
11. ^ 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. 2, 3
12. ^ 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, 1313
13. ^ a b c d Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5683
14. ^ 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. ligar
15. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. ligar
16. ^ a b c d Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. ligar
17. ^ 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. ligar
18. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. ligar
19. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. ligar