olhar

Forms

olhar (first-person singular present olho, first-person singular preterite olhei, past participle olhado)^[1] The oldest form is aolhar (13th century), followed by oolhar and olhar in the 14th century and oulhar in the 15th.^[2][3][4] Houaiss also records olhasem in 1390.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *adoculō (“to eye, to look at”), written Old Galician-Portuguese aolhar (Wiktionary: Old Galician-Portuguese aollar) in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] The Vulgar Latin verb was proposed by Meyer-Lübke.^[2][5] Houaiss holds that the medieval forms with a- and oo-, together with Spanish aojar, Old French aoillier and Italian adocchiare, fully justify it.^[2] It is formed of ad- (“towards”) and Latin oculus (“eye”), or of ad- and the Latin oculō (“to give sight to”).^[2][1] Nascentes and Aurélio trace the change through Old Galician-Portuguese oolhar and oulhar.^[5][6] García de Diego allows that the modern verb may also come straight from a Latin verb without the prefix.^[7]

The verb is Galician ollar and Mirandese oulhar in the neighbouring languages.^[1] The Latin noun goes back to *ok(e)lo-; de Vaan derives it from the PIE word for “eye”, Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ-, also behind Ancient Greek ὤψ (ṓps, “eye, face”) and Lithuanian akìs (“eye”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In a cantiga d'escarnho of Afonso X a charm is tied round a man's neck en tal que o non aolhasse / quen no visse e o catasse “so that whoever saw him and looked at him should not cast the evil eye on him”.^[9][10] The first sense on record is thus “to cast the evil eye”, glossed as pôr quebranto, mau olhado.^[9][11]

Semantic evolution

From the 14th century the forms olhar and oolhar have the plain sense “to look”.^[2] Cardoso (1569) renders it with Latin cerno and video.^[12] Bluteau reports Pedro de Magalhães's remark that Castilian lacks the verb, saying ojos but not ojar, and only aojar “to cast the evil eye”; he adds that Portuguese no longer says aolhar in that sense either, but dar olhado or dar quebranto.^[13] Morais (1813) has olhar para a woman “to court her”, olhar para si “to look after one's own affairs” and olhar ao diante “to think of the future”.^[14]

Modern senses extend from looking to examining, weighing and taking care of (olhar por), and figuratively to facing a direction; in north-eastern Brazil a plant that olha puts out shoots.^[2] The infinitive used as a noun means a look, the expression of the eyes, and a point of view.^[2][15] The verb passed into Macanese as olâ.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – aolhar; a cantiga of Afonso X has aolhasse.^[2][3][9]
• 1390 – olhasem.^[2]
• 14th century – olhar and oolhar.^[2][3]
• c. 1430 – olhar in the Horto do Esposo.^[16]
• 15th century – oulhando.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary.^[12]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau compares Portuguese olhar with Castilian.^[13]
• 1813 – Morais lists olhar para si and olhar ao diante.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. To look (at), direct one's eyes towards someone or something: Olhou para o relógio e saiu.^[2][6][1]
2. To watch, observe closely, examine: O mecânico olhou o motor com atenção.^[2][6]
3. To consider, pay attention to, weigh: Olha bem o que vais assinar.^[2][6]
4. (olhar por) To look after, take care of: A avó olha pelos netos.^[2][17]
5. (figurative) To face, be turned towards: A varanda olha para o mar.^[2][6]
6. (north-eastern Brazil) Of a plant: to put out shoots.^[2]

Noun

1. A look, glance; the act of looking.^[2][1]
2. The look of the eyes as an expression of feeling: um olhar cansado.^[2][15]
3. A way of seeing, point of view.^[2][15]

Related words

• olho
• Galician ollar
• Spanish aojar

Usage notes

The phrase e olhe lá stresses that something is the most, or the least, that can be said or done.^[2]

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 p q r s t u v w Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. olhar
3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. olho
4. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. olhar
5. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. s.v. olhar
6. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. olhar
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. *adoculare
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c 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. aolhar
10. ^ 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. aolhar
11. ^ Lopes, Graça Videira; Ferreira, Manuel Pedro et al. (2011–), Cantigas Medievais Galego-Portuguesas [online database], Lisboa: Instituto de Estudos Medievais, FCSH/NOVA, https://cantigas.fcsh.unl.pt, p. s.v. aolhar
12. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. olhar
13. ^ 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. olhar
14. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 362
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. olhar
16. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. olhar
17. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. olhar