morder

Forms

morder (first-person singular present mordo, first-person singular preterite mordi, past participle mordido)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin mordeō (“to bite”), written Old Galician-Portuguese morder in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1][4]

The same Latin verb is Galician morder, Spanish morder, Catalan morder, French mordre and Italian mordere.^[5][1]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *mordeje- and a present Proto-Indo-European *h₂mord-(e)ie- (“to crush, bite”).^[6] Wiktionary derives it from the root *(s)merd- (“to bite, sting”) and compares Sanskrit मर्दति (márdati, “presses, crushes”), Ancient Greek σμερδνός (smerdnós, “dreadful”) and the English word smart.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria speak of sheep “eaten or badly bitten by wolves” (de lobos log' enton / comestas ou mal mordudas), with the old participle mordudo, and of sick people who “began to bite like a fierce dog” (que sse fillavan a morder / come can bravo).^[7] The Crónica Troiana already uses it figuratively, of deeds that come “to bite and gnaw” at the good.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Houaiss dates the figurative sense “to torment, trouble” to the 15th century, when the forms mordeo and murde are also recorded.^[2] Bluteau's dictionary of 1712–1728 uses the verb for sharp humours that sting the body and for scruples that gnaw at the conscience.^[8] Morais in 1789 adds the poetic morder a terra “to fall dead in battle” and the sense “to criticize, satirize”.^[9]

Modern Portuguese uses it for anything that grips, wears or etches like teeth: gears, rust, acids in engraving.^[2][10] Brazilian informal speech uses it for cadging money from friends and relations, and Portuguese slang for “to steal” and “to understand”.^{[2][11][12][4]} On the Internet it has come to mean “to take the bait”.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – the Cantigas de Santa Maria have morder and the participle mordudas.^[7]
• 1344 – the Crónica Geral has mordeu ẽna maçãa “bit into the apple”.^[7]
• 14th century – the form morde is recorded.^[2]
• 15th century – first record of the figurative sense “to torment”.^[2]
• c. 1450 – the Livro das tres vertudes uses the verb.^[13]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses it with the Latin mordeo.^[14]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau records the senses of stinging humours and of scruples.^[8]
• 1789 – Morais has morder a terra and the sense “to satirize”.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To bite: to grip, cut or wound with the teeth; to bite into (food).^{[2][10][15][1]}
2. To bite, be given to biting: Cuidado, esse gato morde.^[2][16]
3. Of insects, to sting or bite.^[2][12]
4. To grip or bite into (of gears); to corrode, eat away; in engraving, to etch.^[2][10]
5. To cause pain; of the sun, to scorch.^[2][10]
6. (figurative) To torment, gnaw at;^[2][17] morder-se, to be consumed (by envy, anger).^[2][17]
7. (figurative) To criticize, speak ill of.^[2][4][12]
8. To spur on, stimulate: mordia-o a curiosidade.^[2][10]
9. To taste sharp or hot; to itch.^[2][12]
10. (Brazil, informal) To cadge money from: mordeu o tio em cem reais.^[2][11]
11. (Portugal, informal) To steal; to understand, get.^[2][12][4]

Word family

• mordedura
• mordida
• mordidela
• mordedor

Related words

• mordaça
• mordaz
• Latin mordeō
• Spanish morder

Usage notes

The set phrase morder o pó means “to be beaten, bite the dust”.^[15][12] In Brazil morde aqui! is an informal retort of disbelief or mockery.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. morder
3. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. morder
4. ^ 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. morder
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5679
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ 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. morder
8. ^ 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. morder
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, 96
10. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. morder
11. ^ a b Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. morder
12. ^ a b c d e f Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6313
13. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. morder
14. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. morder
15. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. morder
16. ^ 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. morder
17. ^ 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. morder