negar

Forms

negar (first-person singular present nego, first-person singular preterite neguei, past participle negado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin negō (“to say no, deny, refuse”), written Old Galician-Portuguese negar in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1]

The same Latin verb is Galician negar, Spanish negar, Catalan negar, Occitan negar, French nier and Italian negare.^[5][6][1] The Latin verb is formed on neg-, a form of the negation ne (“not”) seen in neque (“and not”), with a verb suffix.^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria use the verb for denying a fact and refusing what is due: un ome que deu seu aver a guardar a outro, e negou-llo “a man who gave his goods to another to keep, and he denied it to him”.^[8] In the love songs it often means “to hide, keep secret”, as in João Garcia de Guilhade's A mia senhor já lh'eu muito neguei “I have long hidden it from my lady”.^[9][8]

Semantic evolution

Medieval texts already show the main senses: to say no, to refuse something to someone, to disown a person (negar Santa Maria, to deny the Virgin), and to conceal or not confess.^[8] The sense “to hide” lives on in Houaiss's list.^[2] Morais in 1789 adds negar a pés juntos “to deny obstinately” and negar a Deus, a pátria, os amigos “to disown God, country, friends”.^[10]

Later senses are technical: in construction, to reach the point at which a pile can be driven no further (from 1880), and in card games, not to play a card of the suit led though one has one.^[2][11] In Brazil negar fogo “to misfire” is said of something that fails to work.^[12]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records in the cantigas and the Cantigas de Santa Maria; the form negua.^[2][3][8]
• 13th century – denegar;^[13] arrenegar in the 14th.^[3]
• 15th century – the forms nege and negativa.^[2][3]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses negar with the Latin nego and inficior.^[13]
• 1789 – Morais records negar a pés juntos.^[10]
• 1880 – the construction sense, from nega “limit of driving a pile”.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To deny: to say that something is not true or does not exist; to say no: Ela negou que tivesse saído.^[2][14][1]
2. To refuse to admit; to contest: negar a existência de Deus.^[2][1]
3. To reject, repudiate; to disown.^[2][15]
4. To refuse to give or allow; to forbid: negar ajuda a alguém.^[2][16][1]
5. (reflexive) To refuse to do something: negou-se a assinar.^[2][1]
6. Not to confess a fault or crime: negou tudo.^[2]
7. To hide, keep secret.^[2]
8. (card games) Not to play a card of the suit led.^[2][1]

Word family

• negação
• negador
• negativa
• nega
• negável
• inegável
• denegar
• arrenegar

Related words

• negado
• negamento
• negativamente
• negativar
• negativizar
• negativo
• negatório
• renegar
• Latin negō
• Spanish negar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. negar
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. negar
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. negar
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 351
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ 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. negar
9. ^ Lopes, Graça Videira; Ferreira, Manuel Pedro et al. (2011–), Cantigas Medievais Galego-Portuguesas [online database], Lisboa: Instituto de Estudos Medievais, FCSH/NOVA, https://cantigas.fcsh.unl.pt, p. s.v. negar
10. ^ 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, 112
11. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. negar
12. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. negar
13. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. negar
14. ^ 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. negar
15. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. negar
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. negar