pensar

Forms

pensar (first-person singular present penso, first-person singular preterite pensei, past participle pensado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pēnsō (“to weigh; to ponder”), which had come to mean “to think” in Late Latin.^[2][3][1] The Latin verb is the frequentative of pendō (“to weigh, pay”), formed on the stem of its past participle; that verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- (“to pull; to spin”).^[2][4][1] Houaiss describes the Late Latin verb as taking over the senses of cōgitō (“to think”) and putō (“to reckon, think”): the first survives in a popular form meaning both “to think” and “to take care of”, the second only in learned derivatives such as putativo.^[2]

Pesar “to weigh” is the popular continuation of the same Latin verb, and the two are doublets: Houaiss calls the verb for thinking the learned divergent form, and Carolina Michaëlis already called it divergent from the verb for weighing.^[2][5][1] Corominas calls the Spanish verb semi-learned, from the idea of carefully weighing the pros and cons.^[6] The same pair is Galician pensar and Galician pesar, Spanish pensar and Spanish pesar, French penser and French peser.^[1][7]

The sense “to look after, tend; to dress (a wound)”, recorded from the 13th century, Houaiss explains from the long coexistence of the Late Latin verb with the Latin verb for “to think” that gave cuidar.^[2] Nascentes had suggested the influence of that verb.^[8] The same sense developed in Spanish, Catalan and French, where it was finally spelt apart as French panser.^[2][9] The DLP instead gives this sense its own headword, formed from Portuguese penso + -ar.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the cantigas the verb means “to reflect, to think of (someone or something)”, and pensar de “to take care of”.^[5] In a cantiga d'amigo it means “to tend a wounded man”, and Gonçalo Anes do Vinhal writes que tam bem mandastes pensar “whom you had so well cared for”.^[5][11] The Cantigas de Santa Maria use non é pensado for “it is unthinkable”, and the infinitive is already a noun, de que ei este pensar “why I have this thought”.^[5][12]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa (1611) glosses pensar with cuydar and the Latin verbs for thinking and meditating.^[13] Bluteau gives the proverb De vagar pensa, & obra depressa “think slowly and act quickly”, and the senses “to clean, swaddle and feed (a baby)” and “to feed and groom (a horse or mule)”.^[14] Morais (1789) illustrates the mental sense with eu penso, logo existo, which he cites from Barros's Cartinha.^[15][16] Vieira (1871–1874) splits the word into two articles, “to tend animals” and “to think”.^[17]

Today the mental senses dominate;^[2][10][18] “to dress a wound” and “to feed and groom animals” survive, and the DLP and Michaelis give them a separate entry.^[2][10][18] In Trás-os-Montes pensar means “to feed (animals)”.^[19]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records, in the cantigas, in the senses “to think” and “to dress (a wound)”.^[2][3][5]
• 13th century – pensamento “thought”.^[3]
• 1416 – the Vida do Cativo Monge Confesso uses pensar.^[20]
• 16th century – pensador and pensativo.^[3]
• 1611 – Barbosa's dictionary glosses the verb with cuydar.^[13]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau records pensar a criança and pensar o cavallo.^[14]
• 1789 – Morais quotes eu penso, logo existo.^[15]
• 1836 – repensar in Constâncio's dictionary.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To think; to reason, to form ideas: Antes de responder, pensa bem.^[2][21]
2. (with em) To think about, consider, reflect on: Pensei muito nesse problema.^[2][21]
3. To decide by thinking: Ainda não pensei o que vou dizer.^[2]
4. To intend, plan: Penso viajar em julho.^[2][22]
5. (with em) To imagine; to try to remember.^[2][23]
6. To be of the opinion, believe, suppose: Penso que vai chover.^[2][22]
7. To dress (a wound), apply a dressing (penso).^[2][10]
8. To look after; to feed and groom (animals); to wash, dress and feed (a baby).^[2][10][18]

Noun

1. (o pensar) Thought; way of thinking, opinion.^[10][22]

Word family

• pensador
• pensamento
• pensante
• pensativo
• repensar

Related words

• pesar
• peso
• penso
• Latin pēnsō
• Galician pensar

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 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. pensar
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. pensar
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. pēnsō
5. ^ 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. pensar
6. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. pensar
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 503
8. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. pensar
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. panser
10. ^ a b c d e f 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. pensar
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. pensar
12. ^ 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. pensar2
13. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pensar
14. ^ 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. pensar
15. ^ 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, 184
16. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 429
17. ^ 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, 740
18. ^ 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. pensar
19. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. pensar
20. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. pensar
21. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. pensar
22. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. pensar
23. ^ 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. pensar