notificar

Forms

notificar (first-person singular present notifico, first-person singular preterite notifiquei, past participle notificado)^[1] Fifteenth-century texts write notificar, noteficar, notefiquar, notifficar and notoficar.^[2] Feijó in 1734 still names noteficar beside notificar.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin nōtificō (“to make known”), a learned word recorded from the 15th century.^[2][1][4] Vieira derived it from French notifier instead.^[5] The French verb was itself taken in 1314 from the Latin of the jurists.^[6]

The Latin verb is formed from nōtus (“known”) and -ficō.^[1][7] The first is the past participle of nōscō (“to get to know”), and the suffix comes from faciō (“to make”).^[2] Lewis and Short note it is found perhaps only before and after the classical period.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first records come from Cunha's slips of 15th-century texts.^[2] Cardoso's Portuguese–Latin dictionary of 1569 renders it with notum facio “I make known”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The general sense “to make known” is the oldest;^[9][10] Barbosa (1611) also gives it with Latin notum facere.^[9][10] Bluteau's dictionary defines the legal sense, “to summon someone to appear before a judge on a set day”, and Morais in 1813 makes the legal use the main sense and labels “to let know, to inform” as old.^[11][12] Modern Portuguese uses it for both: to inform, often formally and in writing, and in law to serve notice on someone.^[2][13][14]

Timeline

• 15th century – first records, spelt notificar, noteficar, notifficar.^[2]
• 1540 – a private letter has notificarão.^[15]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary: notum facio.^[9]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines the legal sense.^[11]
• 1813 – Morais marks the general sense “to inform” as old.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make known; to inform, notify someone of something.^[2][1][16]
2. To announce formally or solemnly.^[2][17]
3. (law) To serve notice on someone of a judicial act; to summon.^[2][13][18]

Word family

• notificação

Related words

• notícia
• notório
• Latin nōtus
• French notifier

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. notificar
3. ^ 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. notificar
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. notificar
5. ^ 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, 469
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. notifier
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. nōtificō
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. nōtifico
9. ^ a b c d Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. notificar
10. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. notificar
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. notificar
12. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 348
13. ^ 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. notificar
14. ^ 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. notificar
15. ^ CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. notificar
16. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. notificar
17. ^ 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. notificar
18. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. notificar