matar

Forms

matar (first-person singular present mato, first-person singular preterite matei, past participle matado, short past participle morto)^[1]

Etymology

It is Old Galician-Portuguese matar in the oldest texts, a verb whose origin has long been disputed.^[2][3] Houaiss gives Corominas's view first: it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *mattō (“to strike, knock down”).^[2] Corominas derives this verb from Late Latin mattus (“stupefied, dull”), an adjective recorded from imperial times whose own origin is uncertain; the verb is typical of the three Ibero-Romance languages, and in the Middle Ages it also meant “to wound”.^[4][5] Aurélio follows the same derivation.^[6]

Machado, as Houaiss reports, takes the Vulgar Latin verb to be a popular development of Latin mactō (“to honour; to sacrifice; to kill”).^[2] Wiktionary and the DLP also start from the Latin verb, but Wiktionary notes that the change of -ct- to -t- would be irregular, and so allows a derivation from, or an influence of, the Latin adjective.^[1][7] Nascentes names Diez, Cornu and Adolfo Coelho on this side.^[8]

Carolina Michaëlis de Vasconcelos, João Ribeiro, Meyer-Lübke and Lokotsch instead traced the verb to Arabic مَاتَ (māta, “he died”), the word that ends the chess call xeque-mate, “the king is dead”.^[8][9] Meyer-Lübke and Lokotsch held the Latin source to be impossible for its sound.^[8][9] Corominas rejects this: a word in general use from the 10th century for so basic a notion is unlikely to come from an aristocratic game, and the Romance forms agree closely with the Vulgar Latin adjective.^[4] Cunha leaves the origin unknown.^[10]

The same verb is Galician matar, Spanish matar and Catalan matar; in Spain it is recorded from the second half of the 10th century, in the Glosses of Silos.^[4][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the verb to the 13th century, from the slips of Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese.^[2][10] In the cantigas it means “to kill” and, figuratively, “to afflict, to move deeply”, and the pronominal matar-se is “to kill oneself”.^[12] The Crónica Troiana uses it of knights who strike each other to kill or wound.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The figurative senses are old: the cantigas d'amigo use the verb for being overcome with joy or emotion, and an escarnho for being driven to despair.^[9] Morais in 1813 adds “to put out” (a candle, a fire), “to make plants wither” and “to pay off” a debt.^[13] From the idea of ending a need came matar a fome and matar a sede, “to still one's hunger, quench one's thirst”, which Folqman already has in 1755.^[14] Later senses are “to tire out, wear down”, “to ruin” and “to solve” a riddle.^[15][16]

Brazilian Portuguese uses it for “to skip” a class or work and “to finish off” a drink or a supply; in billiards it is “to pocket” a ball.^[1][16] In Angola it can mean “to sell at a speculative price, outside the legal channels”.^[17] In north-eastern Brazil a widow may say that she “killed” a husband she outlived.^[18]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records, in the cantigas.^[2][12]
• 1350 – matar in the Trasladação de S. Nicolau, in a 14th-century witness.^[19]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders it with Latin neco.^[20]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau derives it from a Hebrew mat “dead”.^[21]
• 1755 – Folqman lists matar a fome and matar a sede.^[14]
• 1813 – Morais records the senses “to put out” and “to pay off”.^[13]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira derives it from Latin mactare.^[22]

Meanings

Verb

1. To kill, to take the life of a person or animal; to murder: Matou o lobo com um só tiro.^[2][6][1]
2. To cause the death of; to slaughter animals for meat.^[2][23]
3. (reflexive) To kill oneself, commit suicide;^[2][16][1] (figurative) to wear oneself out with effort.^[2][16][1]
4. To destroy, put an end to; to make plants wither.^[6][17]
5. To still, satisfy a need: matar a fome, matar a sede.^[17][1]
6. To cause great suffering or exhaustion to; to afflict.^[7][23]
7. To spend time on trifles: matar o tempo.^[17][1]
8. (informal) To solve a riddle or mystery; to recognise someone in disguise.^[16][1]
9. (Brazil, informal) To skip a class or work: matar aula.^[16][1]
10. (Brazil, informal) To finish off a drink or a supply.^[16][1]
11. (sport) To stop a moving ball;^[1][16] (billiards) to pocket a ball.^[1][16]

Word family

• matador
• matadouro
• matança
• matação
• matar aula

Related words

• Spanish matar

Usage notes

Houaiss records two minor verbs of the same spelling: an informal matar “to spy on”, from French mater, and a needlework term “to close two loops in one stitch”, which he derives, after the Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, from mate with the suffix -ar.^[2] The DLP has the needlework verb as well.^[7]

Matar o bicho is to take a drink of spirits in the morning on an empty stomach.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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. matar
3. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. matar
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 878
5. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. matar
6. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. matar
7. ^ a b c 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. matar
8. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 321
9. ^ a b c d 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. matar
10. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. matar
11. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. mactare
12. ^ 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. matar
13. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 276
14. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. matar
15. ^ 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. matar
16. ^ a b c d e f g h i Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. matar
17. ^ a b c d e Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6003
18. ^ Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. matar
19. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. matar
20. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. matar
21. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. matar
22. ^ Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 4, 160
23. ^ a b 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. matar