ocupar

Forms

ocupar (first-person singular present ocupo, first-person singular preterite ocupei, past participle ocupado)^[1] Medieval texts have ocupam, occupaua and acupava (14th century), acopou and aculpa (15th century).^[2] The spelling occupar was usual until the 20th century,^[3][1] and the form acupar is still recorded in Portuguese dialects.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin occupō (“to seize, take possession of”),^[2][1][5] by a semi-learned route, as Nascentes says.^[6] The Latin verb is formed from ob- and the root of capiō (“to take, seize”); its first-conjugation forms, as in anticipō and participō, are explained by derivation through a noun or adjective, not by direct composition.^[1]

The REW lists the derivative ocupada "pregnant" for Portuguese, with cupada in Beira and the Algarve.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's earliest records are Galician: an Estoria has os lugares que tynã enbargados et ocupados ẽno mũdo "the places that they held seized and occupied in the world", and a document of 1381 et ocupado doutros moytos negocios "and busy with many other affairs".^[8] Houaiss dates the Portuguese verb and its pronominal use to the 14th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In 15th-century notarial deeds of Noia the verb belongs to the formula of possession, beside demandar and embargar: the seller promises not to ocupar the house he has sold.^[8] Cardoso (1569) gives it simply as Latin occupo.^[9] Vieira's quotations from the Monarchia Lusitana show the military sense, of the lands the Goths conquered.^[3]

Modern senses cover filling a space, holding an office, taking up time and attention, and keeping someone busy.^[2][10] An old sense "to become pregnant", now obsolete, is still in the dictionaries.^[2][11] In Brazil the verb is used of squatters and social movements taking over land or buildings, and in Rio Grande do Sul it is also a euphemism for using a prostitute's services.^[2][12]

Timeline

• 14th century – first records in Portuguese, including the pronominal ocupar-se.^[2]
• 1381 – ocupado “busy” in a Galician document.^[8]
• 15th century – the variant acupar.^[8]
• 1450 – ocupar in the Livro das tres vertudes (witness after 1450).^[13]
• 1463 – ocupar in the notarial formulae of Noia.^[8]
• 1540 – ocupe in a private letter.^[14]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses it occupo.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fill or take up (a space); to be in (a place): Os livros ocupam duas estantes.^[2][15][1]
2. To hold (a position, office or rank): ocupar a chefia do serviço.^[2][15][1]
3. To live in, inhabit (a house or place).^[10][1]
4. To settle in (a place) by force or without permission; to squat.^[2][5]
5. To occupy (a territory) by force; to conquer, invade.^[2][10][1]
6. To take up (an amount of time): A viagem ocupou o dia todo.^[2][10]
7. To use, spend (time or life) on something.^[2]
8. To give work to, keep (someone) busy.^[2][11]
9. To hold (someone's attention or interest).^[2][15]
10. (obsolete) To become pregnant.^[2][11]
11. (reflexive) ocupar-se de, com, em: to devote oneself to; to deal with (a subject).^[2][16]

Word family

• ocupação
• ocupado
• ocupante
• desocupar

Related words

• preocupar
• Latin occupō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. ocupar
3. ^ 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, 526
4. ^ 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. ocupar
5. ^ 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. ocupar
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. ocupar
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6031
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. ocupar
9. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ocupar
10. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. ocupar
11. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. ocupar
12. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. ocupar
13. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. ocupar
14. ^ 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. ocupar
15. ^ a b c 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. ocupar
16. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6633