permitir

Forms

permitir (first-person singular present permito, first-person singular preterite permiti, past participle permitido)^[1] Fifteenth-century texts write permeter, permitisse, primitisse, permitendo and permetio.^[2][3] Wiktionary lists the old spelling permittir.^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin permittō (“to let go; to entrust; to allow”), first recorded in the 15th century.^[2][3] Wiktionary calls it a learned borrowing that changed conjugation, and Nascentes a semi-learned one.^[1][4]

Houaiss glosses the Latin verb as “to send forward, hurl; to hand over, give up; to grant, allow”.^[2] It is formed from per- (“through”) and mittō (“to let go, to send”).^[1][5] The same Latin word is Galician permitir, Spanish permitir, Catalan permetre, French permettre, Italian permettere and Romanian permite.^[1] French borrowed it and reshaped it after mettre.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The first dictionaries gloss it with Latin permitto: Cardoso in 1569 and Barbosa in 1611.^[7][8] The first Aulete lists “to give freedom or leave”, “to give occasion to”, “to tolerate” and the polite formula permita-me.^[9] The reflexive “to take the liberty of” is in Houaiss and Michaelis.^[2][10]

Timeline

• 15th century – first record, with the forms permeter and permitisse.^[2][3]
• 1561 – permite in a private letter.^[11]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses it with Latin permitto.^[7]
• 1611 – Barbosa quotes Cicero for the Latin verb.^[8]
• 1858 – first record of permissivo.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To permit, to allow: to give someone freedom or leave to do something; to consent to: O regulamento não permite animais.^[2][12][1]
2. To make possible; to give occasion to: A boa preparação permitiu o êxito.^[2][12][1]
3. To tolerate, to admit: O assunto não permite atrasos.^[2][12][1]
4. To let someone use something: A dieta permite-lhe um doce por semana.^[12][10]
5. (reflexive) To take the liberty of: Permito-me discordar.^[2][10][1]

Related words

• permissão
• permissivo
• Latin permittō
• Spanish permitir

Usage notes

Permita-me is a polite formula used before contradicting someone or softening what follows, and é permitido means that something is proper or lawful.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. permitir
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. permitir
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. permitir
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. permitto
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. permettre
7. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. permitir
8. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. permitir
9. ^ 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. permitir
10. ^ 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. permitir
11. ^ 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. permitir
12. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. permitir