mexer

Forms

mexer (first-person singular present mexo, first-person singular preterite mexi, past participle mexido)^[1] Houaiss records mexe and mece in the 13th century and meixer in 1611;^[2][3] Nascentes cites the old participle meixente from the Inéditos de Alcobaça.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin misceō (“to mix”), written Old Galician-Portuguese mecer in the oldest texts.^[2][4][1] Nascentes notes that the Portuguese ⟨x⟩ for the Latin group /sk/ is unusual: the two sounds changed places, and /ks/ then developed as usual.^[3]

The meaning shifted from “to mix” to “to stir, move”, since to mix liquids one must stir them.^[2][4] Houaiss quotes Corominas on the same change in Spanish mecer.^[2][4] The Spanish verb meant “to shake, shrug” in the poem of the Cid and now means “to rock (a cradle)”, and Italian mescere means “to pour”.^[5][3] The verb is also Galician mexer.^[6]

Wiktionary traces the Latin verb to *mi(k)skō (“to mix”), an inchoative present of Proto-Indo-European *meyḱ- (“to mix”), and de Vaan notes that its second conjugation is unexplained.^[1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are of the 13th century.^[2] A cantiga de Santa Maria describes a woman come a moller transsida que niun nenbro non mece “like a woman stiff with cold who moves not a limb”, already in the sense “to move”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Cardoso in 1569 and Pereira in 1697 still give Latin misceo as the equivalent of mexer.^[9][10] Bluteau in 1712 has mexer ovos “to beat eggs” and mexer em negocios “to stir up trouble”, and notes the phrase não se mexem bem “they do not get on”.^[11] Morais in 1789 defines it as to mix by moving the parts of a thing, and figuratively to touch or to disturb.^[12] Vieira adds the reflexive mexer-se “to stir, not to keep still”.^[13]

The construction mexer com has developed several senses in Brazil: to tease or provoke someone, to make advances, to work in a trade, and to move someone emotionally.^[2][14] The reflexive mexer-se also means “to hurry up” and “to make an effort”.^[2][1]

Timeline

• 13th century – mece in the Cantigas de Santa Maria, and the form mexe.^[8][2]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary has Mexer.^[9]
• 1596 – first record of remexido, from remexer.^[15]
• 1611 – the spelling meixer.^[2]
• 1712 – Bluteau records mexer ovos and mexer em negocios.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais defines mexer as to mix by moving.^[12]
• 1871 – Vieira records the reflexive mexer-se.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. To stir, to turn the contents of something with a spoon or stick to mix it: Mexe o arroz para não pegar.^[2][16]
2. To move, to shift from its place;^[2][17][1] (reflexive) to move oneself: Ninguém se mexia na sala.^[2][17][1]
3. To sway the hips, to wiggle in dancing (rebolar).^[2][16]
4. To touch, handle or rummage in something; to fiddle with.^[2][1]
5. To make changes to something: mexer num texto.^[2][18]
6. (reflexive) To hurry up; to make an effort to get something.^[2][1]
7. To refer to a subject.^[2][19]
8. (with com) To tease or provoke someone; to make advances to someone; to work in a trade; to affect someone emotionally.^[2][14]

Word family

• mexido
• mexida
• remexer

Related words

• mesclar
• mestiço
• misto
• mistura
• Latin misceō
• Galician mexer
• Spanish mecer

Usage notes

The phrase mexer os pauzinhos or mexer os cordelinhos “to pull the strings” means to take the steps needed to obtain something.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. mexer
3. ^ a b c d Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 331
4. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. mexer
5. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 9
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. miscere
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. mecer
9. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. mexer
10. ^ 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. mexer
11. ^ 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. mexer
12. ^ 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, 80
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. 4, 229
14. ^ a b Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. mexer
15. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. remexer
16. ^ a b 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. mexer
17. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. mexer
18. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6144
19. ^ 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. mexer