poder

Forms

poder (first-person singular present posso, first-person singular preterite pude, past participle podido)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese had the preterite puide, poide or pudi, the imperfect pudia (1365) and podjia (1392), and the subjunctive possa.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin potēre (“to be able”), a remaking of Latin possum (“I can”), written Old Galician-Portuguese poder in the oldest texts.^[3][4][1] Houaiss explains the new infinitive by the forms of the old verb built on the stem ⟨pot-⟩, such as the perfect ⟨potuī⟩ and the participle potēns, and Nascentes and the DLE by present forms such as ⟨potes⟩ “you can” and ⟨potest⟩ “he can”.^[3][5][6] Carolina Michaëlis saw in it an infinitive drawn from these present forms to match the regular infinitives in -are, -ere and -ire.^[2] Wiktionary notes that a regular present ⟨possō⟩ is found in letters of the early 2nd century AD, the imperfect ⟨potēbat⟩ at the end of that century, and the infinitive itself in the 6th.^[1]

The same verb is Galician poder, Spanish poder, Catalan poder, Occitan poder, Old French pooir, French pouvoir, Italian potere and Romanian putea.^[7][1] The REW traces all of them to the new infinitive, while the present partly kept the Latin forms.^[7]

The Latin verb is a compound of potis (“able; master”) and sum (“I am”).^[8][1] Wiktionary reconstructs it as Proto-Italic *possom.^[1]

The noun is the infinitive used as a noun, recorded from the 13th century, as in Spanish.^[3][4][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the verb and the noun to the 13th century.^[3] The Cancioneiro da Ajuda has the present posso, pode, podedes and the preterite puide and pudi, with the sense “to have the means or the strength for something”.^[2] The noun is already common in the cantigas: teer alguen en seu poder “to have someone in one's power”, seer em poder de alguem “to be subject to someone”, and a vosso poder “as far as lies in your hand”.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

Cardoso (1569) translates the verb with Latin possum and valeo, and Barbosa (1611) has em poder de alguem for Latin penes “in the hands of”.^[11][12] Morais (1789) begins with physical strength, as in poder com “to be able to carry”, and adds endurance, patience and moral right.^[13] For the noun Morais (1813) gives bodily strength, dominion, as of a city in the hands of the Moors, and the authority to make and repeal laws.^[14]

Modern Portuguese uses the noun for the branches of the state (poder executivo, poder judicial), for purchasing power (poder de compra), and in the plural for powers delegated to someone; informally um poder de is “a great many”.^[3] The noun passed into Nheengatu as puderi.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records of the verb and of the noun.^[3][4]
• 1365 – the imperfect pudia, and podjia in 1392.^[3]
• c. 1400 – a fragment of the Flos Sanctorum (witness 1380–1425) is the first CTA text with the word.^[15]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses it as possum, valeo.^[11]
• 1611 – Barbosa records em poder de alguem.^[12]
• 1734 – Feijó calls the verb anomalous and gives posso, pódes, póde and pude, pôde.^[16]
• 1789 – Morais's dictionary enters the verb.^[13]
• 1813 – Morais enters the noun.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be able to, can: Não posso levantar esta mala sozinho.^[3][1]
2. To be allowed to, may: Os menores não podem conduzir.^[3][1]
3. Expresses possibility or risk: Amanhã pode chover.^[3][1][17]
4. To have strength or influence;^[3][1] (with com) to be able to deal with or withstand: Ninguém pode com aquele cão.^[3][1]
5. To have the patience or strength to bear something.^[3][18]
6. (informal) To be available for a meeting.^[1]

Noun

1. power, authority, command.^[3][1]
2. The government of a state, and each of its branches: poder executivo, poder legislativo.^[3][1]
3. Capacity, faculty: poder de compra.^[3]
4. dominion, possession: em poder de.^[3][1]
5. Efficacy, effect.^[3][19]
6. (in the plural) Powers granted to act for someone; a proxy.^[3]
7. (informal) A great quantity: um poder de livros.^[3]

Word family

• poderio
• poderoso
• apoderar
• apoderado
• desapoderar
• superpoder

Related words

• potência
• potente
• potentado
• potestade
• impotente
• Latin possum
• Spanish poder

Usage notes

The verb is irregular: posso, pode, the preterite pude, pôde, and the subjunctive possa.^[16][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. poder
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. poder
4. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. poder
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. poder
6. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. poder
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6682
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. possum
9. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. poder
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. poder
11. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. poder
12. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. poder
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, 210
14. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 461
15. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. poder
16. ^ a b 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. poder
17. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. poder
18. ^ 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. poder
19. ^ 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. poder