nevar

Forms

nevar (impersonal, third-person singular present neva, third-person singular preterite nevou, past participle nevado)^[1]

Etymology

Cunha and Wiktionary take it as inherited from Vulgar Latin nivō (“to snow”), written Old Galician-Portuguese nevar and Old Galician-Portuguese neuar in the old texts;^[2][1][3][4] Cunha and the REW cite the Latin verb in the infinitive, nivare.^[2][1][3][4] Du Cange records it in Medieval Latin from the glossary of Johannes de Janua.^[5] Nascentes and Aurélio describe it as a popular Latin replacement of the classical verb.^[6][7] Houaiss, the DLP and Priberam instead derive it from Portuguese neve + -ar, which Wiktionary gives as its surface analysis.^[4][8][9][1]

The same Latin verb is Galician nevar, Spanish nevar, Catalan nevar and Occitan nevar;^[3][10] Italian has the derivative nevicare.^[3][10]

The Latin verb is formed from the stem of nix (“snow”), which comes from Proto-Italic *sniks and Proto-Indo-European *snígʷʰs (“snow”), a root noun of *sneygʷʰ- (“to snow”), which also gave the classical verb ningō (“to snow”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the verb to the 13th century.^[4][2] R. Lorenzo's chronology cites the Cantigas de Santa Maria, where a church's foundations were laid where God the Father had made it snow (deitaron os cimentos ben per u nevou Deus padre, cantiga 309).^[11]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa (1611) renders the verb with Latin ningo.^[12] Morais (1789) gives a transitive sense, “to throw snow on”, quoting Lobo's seventh eclogue, beside the intransitive “of snow, to fall”.^[13] Vieira adds the figurative “to make white”, as of hair turning grey.^[14] The original Caldas Aulete has “to chill with snow”, as of water, and the reflexive for a head going white.^[15] Houaiss and Aurélio keep all these senses.^[4][7]

Timeline

• 1200s – first records, according to Houaiss and Cunha.^[4][2]
• 1300s – the spelling neuar.^[4]
• 1611 – Barbosa gives Latin ningo.^[12]
• 1734 – Feijó lists nevar beside néve.^[16]
• 1789 – Morais records the transitive “throw snow on” and the intransitive sense.^[13]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira adds “to make white”.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. (impersonal) To snow: Ontem nevou na serra.^[4][7][1]
2. (transitive) To cover with snow.^[4][8]
3. (figurative) To make or become white; of hair, to turn grey: A barba nevou-lhe cedo.^[4][7][15]
4. (transitive) To chill with snow or ice.^[4][17]

Related words

• neve
• nevasca
• Latin nix

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 Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. nevar
3. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5930b
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. nevar
5. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. s.v. nivare
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. nevar
7. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. nevar
8. ^ a b 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. nevar
9. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. nevar
10. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. nivare
11. ^ 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. nevar
12. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. nevar
13. ^ 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, 114
14. ^ 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, 430
15. ^ 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. nevar
16. ^ Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. nevar
17. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6503