obrar

Forms

obrar (first-person singular present obro, first-person singular preterite obrei, past participle obrado)^[1] Houaiss records the 14th-century spellings hobrar and obraades.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin operō (“to work”), the active form of Latin operor (“to be at work”).^[2][3][1] The learned verb operar is a doublet from the same Latin word.^[2][1]

The same Latin verb is Galician obrar, Spanish obrar, Catalan obrar, Occitan obrar, French ouvrer and Italian operare.^[4][5]

The Oxford Latin Dictionary derives the deponent verb from opera (“work, effort”) or explains it as a back-formation from its participle operātus.^[6] Wiktionary prefers the back-formation.^[1] Niermeyer records the active form beside the deponent in Medieval Latin, with the senses “to perform labour service”, “to act”, “to manufacture” and “to build”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's chronology dates the first records, with a query, to the 13th century, in the Cantigas de Santa Maria: cuidando ben obrar “thinking to do well”, and se ben obrou por ela “if he did well for her”.^[8] In the Cancioneiro da Ajuda Pero da Ponte says of the king who conquered Valencia that per valença quer obrar “he means to act with valour”.^[8][9] The sense is “to act, to perform deeds”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Houaiss dates the intransitive sense “to work, to act” to the 13th century and the transitive “to bring about, to make” to the 14th.^[2] The Crónica Troiana uses the verb for working on something and for accomplishing things.^[8] Cardoso in 1569 and Pereira in 1697 render it with Latin operor.^[10][11] Bluteau defines it as doing any action, and his quotations show it with adverbs of manner, obrar com violencia, obrar com destreza.^[12]

The medical sense came early: Folqman's dictionary of 1755 has obrar bem com hum remedio for a purge that moves the bowels.^[13] From “to take effect (of a medicine)” the verb came to mean “to defecate”, now popular or euphemistic in Portugal and Brazil.^[2][14][15] Portuguese dialect surveys also record “to build one's own house” and, of olive oil, “to separate from the dregs”.^[16]

Timeline

• 13th century – obrar in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[8][3]
• 14th century – the spellings hobrar and obraades; first date of the transitive sense “to bring about”.^[2]
• c. 1400 – in a fragment of the Flos Sanctorum (witness 1380–1425).^[17]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses obrar as Latin operor.^[10]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines it as doing any action.^[12]
• 1755 – Folqman records the verb of a medicine that moves the bowels.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To work, to carry out a task or trade; to act: Ele obra com cuidado.^[2][18][1]
2. (transitive) To bring about, accomplish or produce: obrar maravilhas.^[2][18]
3. (transitive) To build or manufacture.^[2][19]
4. (transitive) To plot or contrive (a crime, an intrigue).^[2][20]
5. (intransitive) To behave, to act in a certain way.^[2][21]
6. (intransitive, + sobre) To have influence over someone.^[2][14]
7. (intransitive) To take effect (of a medicine).^[2][18]
8. (intransitive, popular) To defecate;^[2][22][1] (pronominal) to soil oneself.^[2][22][1]

Related words

• obra
• obreiro
• operar
• Latin operor
• Spanish obrar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. obrar
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. obra
4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. operare
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. operare
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. operor
7. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. operari
8. ^ a b c d e 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. obrar
9. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. obrar
10. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. obrar
11. ^ 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. obrar
12. ^ 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. obrar
13. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. obrar
14. ^ 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. obrar
15. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. obrar
16. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. obrar
17. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. obrar
18. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. obrar
19. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6603
20. ^ 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. obrar
21. ^ 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. obrar
22. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. obrar