luzir

Forms

luzir (first-person singular present luzo, first-person singular preterite luzi, past participle luzido)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin lūceō (“to shine”), written Old Galician-Portuguese luzir in the oldest texts, with a change of conjugation.^[2][3][1] Wiktionary and Nascentes start from a fourth-conjugation verb, Vulgar Latin *lūciō.^[1][4] Nascentes reports Meyer-Lübke's explanation: verbs of the fourth conjugation often stood beside inchoatives, so such a form suited lūx (“light”) beside lūcēscō (“to begin to shine”).^[4]

The same Vulgar Latin form is Spanish lucir, Catalan lluir, Old Occitan luzir, Old French luisir and Romanian luci; Italian lucere continues the second-conjugation Latin verb.^[5][1]

The Latin verb is formed from the noun for light.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria tell of an image to which a great splendour faziana luzir “made it shine”, and the Galician Historia Troyana has aly ueerades o sol luzir ẽnas armas “there you would see the sun shine on the weapons”.^[8] Houaiss and Cunha date the verb to the 13th century.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Morais (1789) records the figurative senses beside “to give or reflect light”: virtue, courage or wit luz “shines out”, and work luz when it grows and shows results.^[9] Bluteau's and Folqman's dictionaries already have começar a luzir “to begin to shine” and the use of a virtue that “shone” in a war.^[10][11] Houaiss adds the sense “to bring profit” and an obsolete transitive sense “to illuminate (a manuscript)”, and the informal phrase luzir o buraco “to see the dawn from inside the house”, hence “to die”.^[2]

Timeline

• 13th century – luzir in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[8][2]
• 1416 – first instance in the CTA, in the Vida de Santo Aleixo.^[12]
• 1569 – Cardoso translates it with Latin luceo and fulgeo.^[13]
• 1789 – Morais records the figurative senses “to stand out” and “to thrive”.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To give out light; to shine: À noite luziam as luzes do porto.^[2][14][1]
2. (intransitive) To reflect light, of polished surfaces; to gleam.^[2][14][15]
3. (figurative) To grow and flourish; to thrive (medrar).^[2][16][15]
4. (figurative) To stand out; to make an impression.^[2][14][16]
5. (figurative) To appear suddenly; to come to light.^[2][16][15]
6. (transitive, figurative) To show off, display with brilliance.^[2]
7. To bring profit or advantage; to show results.^[2][16][15]
8. (transitive, obsolete) To illuminate or illustrate.^[2]

Word family

• desluzir
• luzimento

Related words

• luz
• reluzir
• lúcido
• Latin lūceō
• Spanish lucir

Usage notes

The proverb nem tudo que luz é ouro “all that glitters is not gold” uses the verb.^[14]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. luzir
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. luz
4. ^ a b 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. luzir
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5136
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. luire
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. lūceō
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. luzir
9. ^ 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, 37
10. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. luzir
11. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. luzir
12. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. luzir
13. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. luzir
14. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. luzir
15. ^ a b c d 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. luzir
16. ^ a b c d Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. luzir