lograr

Forms

lograr (first-person singular present logro, first-person singular preterite logrei, past participle logrado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin lucror (“to gain, make a profit”), written Old Galician-Portuguese lograr in the oldest texts.^[2][1] Cunha, Nascentes, Aurélio, the DLP and Porto Editora start from the active Late Latin lucrō, which replaced the deponent in Late Latin.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} It is the popular doublet of the learned lucrar.^[2][1] Houaiss notes that in the popular form the idea of gaining shifted to the means of gaining at someone else's expense, so that “to trick, swindle” became one of its core senses.^[2]

The same verb is Galician lograr, Spanish lograr and Asturian llograr; Italian logorare (“to wear out”) and Romanian lucra (“to work”) took other senses.^[8][1] The Latin verb is from lucrum (“profit, gain”), from Proto-Indo-European *lh₂u-tló- (“seizure, gain”), with cognates in Ancient Greek ἀπολαύω (apolaúō, “to enjoy”) and Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌿𐌽 (laun, “reward”).^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Latin charter of 1253 already has the Romance verb: quod ipse eam habeat et logret et possideat “that he may have it, enjoy it and possess it”.^[10] In a 13th-century cantiga d'escarnho Afonso X mocks a troubadour who stole the songs of another, el x' os quer lograr “he wants to have the use of them himself”.^[10] A document of 1305 has que as aiam e logrem “that they may have and enjoy them”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The medieval verb meant “to enjoy the use or fruit of” something, land and pastures above all;^[10][11] Viterbo quotes documents on grazing rights in which people lograr montes, e fontes “use hills and springs”.^[10][11] Cardoso (1569) and Barbosa (1611) render it with the Latin verbs for “to possess” and “to enjoy”, and Barbosa lists bem logrado “fortunate” and mal logrado “unfortunate”.^[12][13] Morais (1789) adds “to achieve”, and “to deceive with a joke or trick”.^[14] Feijó (1734) notes that the verb is stressed lógro while the noun is lôgro.^[15]

In modern Portuguese the commonest sense is “to manage, achieve”, beside “to enjoy” and “to deceive”.^[2][16] The derivative logradouro meant a public pasture in 1813 and has come to mean the streets and squares of a town.^[3]

Timeline

• 1253 – logret in a Latin charter.^[10]
• 13th century – first record in Galician-Portuguese, in a cantiga d'escarnho of Afonso X.^[3][10]
• 1305 – logrem in a document.^[10]
• 15th century – logro.^[3]
• 1525 – the Memorial da Infanta Santa Joana uses lograr.^[17]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders it with Latin potior.^[12]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists bem logrado and mal logrado.^[13]
• 1734 – Feijó distinguishes the stress of the verb lógro from the noun lôgro.^[15]
• 1789 – Morais records the sense “to deceive”.^[14]
• 1813 – logrador and logradouro “public pasture”.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To achieve, obtain, manage (to do something): Logrou acabar o curso.^[2][18][16]
2. To enjoy, have the use of (something won): Logrou uns anos de paz.^[2][5]
3. (also pronominal) To take advantage of, profit from.^[2][16]
4. (intransitive) To succeed, have the expected effect.^[2][6]
5. To deceive, trick, swindle: Logrou o sócio e fugiu.^[2][5][7]
6. (pronominal, rare) To grow over the years (of a fortune).^[2]

Word family

• logrador
• logradouro
• logro

Related words

• lucrar
• lucro
• malogro
• Latin lucror
• Spanish lograr

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. lograr
3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. lograr
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. lograr
5. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. lograr
6. ^ a b 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. lograr
7. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5753
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5145
9. ^ 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. lucrum
10. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. lograr
11. ^ a b Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 98
12. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. lograr
13. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. lograr
14. ^ 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, 11
15. ^ 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. lograr
16. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. lograr
17. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. lograr
18. ^ 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. lograr