prestar

Forms

prestar (first-person singular present presto, first-person singular preterite prestei, past participle prestado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin praestō (“to stand out; to vouch for; to provide”), written Old Galician-Portuguese prestar in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] In Medieval Latin the verb also meant “to lend”.^[5]

The same Latin verb is Galician prestar, Spanish prestar, Catalan prestar, Occitan prestar, French prêter and Italian prestare.^[6][1] The Latin verb is a compound of prae- (“before”) and stō (“to stand”).^[7][8] The Latin adverb of the same spelling, meaning “ready, at hand”, is the source of prestes “ready”.^[9][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's chronology begins with a Latin charter of 1103, homini prestare potest “can provide to a man”, and a law of 1188–1230 with the participle in auer prestado “goods lent”.^[10] In the Cantigas de Santa Maria the verb means “to help, avail”, as in que lle nunca prestar pode fisica “that medicine could never help him”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The commonest medieval sense was “to be of use, avail”: the troubadour Pero da Ponte mocks a rich man who non presta a outren nen a si “is of use neither to others nor to himself”, and the Crónica Geral speaks of a knight de prestar, a worthy one.^[10][11] Houaiss dates this sense to the 13th century, and Bluteau defines the verb by it alone.^[2][12] The Cantigas de Santa Maria already use it for lending, a sense Vieira still gives first in 1871–1874; in modern Portuguese lending is emprestar.^[10][13][1]

The transitive “to give, render” was used with abstract objects: Morais has prestar fé “to give credit” and prestar paciência “to have patience”.^[14] Today one presta help, attention, homage, an oath or military service.^[2] Said of a person, não presta means that he is of bad character.^[2][15]

Timeline

• 1103 – prestare in a Latin charter.^[10][2]
• 1188–1230 – the participle in auer prestado, in a law.^[10]
• 13th century – prestar “to help, avail” in the Cantigas de Santa Maria;^[10][3] emprestar is also recorded.^[10][3]
• c. 1450 – first record in the CTA, in the Livro das tres vertudes.^[16]
• 1540 – presto in a private letter.^[17]
• 1697 – Pereira renders Prestar by Latin valeo and prosum, “to be of use”.^[18]
• 1789 – Morais records prestar fé and prestar paciência.^[14]
• 1813 – first record of prestativo.^[3]
• 1881 – first record of prestação.^[3]
• 1899 – prestável and imprestável.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To give, render, provide (help, care, a service): Os bombeiros prestaram socorro aos feridos.^[2][19][1]
2. To pay (attention, homage, respect): prestar atenção.^[2][1]
3. To be useful, be good for something, usually with para.^[2][1]
4. (of a person, in the negative) To be of good character: Esse sujeito não presta.^[2][15]
5. (pronominal) To be suitable for, lend itself to.^[2][20][1]
6. (pronominal) To consent to something, lend oneself to it.^[2]
7. To give, impart (a quality or an appearance) to something.^[2][19]
8. To perform under an obligation: to take (an oath), to do (military service), to sit (an examination).^[2][21]

Word family

• emprestar
• prestação
• prestador
• prestável
• prestativo
• imprestável
• préstimo
• prestante

Related words

• prestes
• presto
• Latin praestō
• Spanish prestar

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. prestar
3. ^ a b c d e f g Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. prestar
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. prestar
5. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. praestare
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6725
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. praestō
8. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. prestar
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6726
10. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. prestar
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. prestar
12. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. prestar
13. ^ 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, 923
14. ^ 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, 240
15. ^ 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. prestar
16. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. prestar
17. ^ 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. prestar
18. ^ Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. prestar
19. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. prestar
20. ^ 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. prestar
21. ^ 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. prestar