observar

Forms

observar (first-person singular present observo, first-person singular preterite observei, past participle observado)^[1] Cunha records the early spelling ouservar about 1541, and Houaiss obseruar in 1572.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin observō (“to watch, heed; to comply with”), first recorded about 1541.^[2][3][1][4] The Latin verb is formed from ob- and servō (“to watch over, keep”).^[5][1] Nascentes glossed the Latin verb as keeping something before one's eyes.^[6]

The same Latin verb is the source of Galician observar, Spanish observar, Catalan observar, French observer, Italian osservare and Romanian observa.^[1] The French verb was borrowed as early as about 980, at first only in the sense “to comply with a law”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cunha's earliest record, ouservar, is from about 1541, and Houaiss has the participle observado in a text of 1563–1570.^[2][3] Camões uses the verb in the Lusíadas (1572), where the Brahmins observam os preceitos “keep the precepts”: the first well-known sense is “to keep, comply with”.^[2][8] Related words came earlier: observância “observance” is recorded in the 15th century and observante in 1538.^[9][2]

Semantic evolution

Pereira (1697) glosses the verb with Latin words for “observe”, “revere” and “worship”.^[10] Bluteau (1712–1728) gives “to keep” laws and customs, then “to look at attentively”, as the stars or the enemy's movements, and Feijó (1734) sums it up as “to keep laws, to look with attention”.^[11][12] Morais (1789) adds “to watch, spy”, “to reflect” and “to remark”.^[13]

Today the sense “to look at attentively, examine” comes first in Houaiss and Aurélio, with scientific observation as a sub-sense; the European DLP still puts “to comply with a law or rule” first.^[3][14][15] The 18th century brought observador (1720) and observatório (1789).^[16][17]

Timeline

• 15th century – observância is recorded.^[9]
• 1538 – observante.^[2]
• c. 1541 – ouservar.^[2]
• 1552 – first record of observação.^[18]
• 1563–1570 – the participle observado.^[3]
• 1572 – obseruar in the Lusíadas.^[2][3]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses it with Latin observo, veneror and colo.^[10]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau gives “to keep” and “to look at attentively”.^[11]
• 1720 – first record of observador.^[16]
• 1789 – Morais adds “to spy” and “to reflect”; first record of observatório.^[13][17]

Meanings

Verb

1. To look at attentively, watch, study: Passava as tardes a observar as formigas.^[3][14][1]
2. (science) To follow the course or behaviour of something by observation.^[3][14]
3. To spy on, watch in secret.^[14][19]
4. To notice, perceive.^[3][19]
5. To remark, point out to someone.^[14][15]
6. To comply with, keep (a law, rule or custom): observar o descanso dominical.^[14][15]
7. (reflexive) To be circumspect, watch one's own words and actions.^[19][20]

Related words

• observação
• observância
• observador
• observatório
• Latin observō
• Galician observar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. observação
3. ^ 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. observar
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. observar
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. observō
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. 359
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. observer
8. ^ 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, 512
9. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. observância
10. ^ a b 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. observar
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. observar
12. ^ 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. observar
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, 126
14. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. observar
15. ^ a b c 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. observar
16. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. observador
17. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. observatório
18. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. observação
19. ^ a b c 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. observar
20. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. observar