privar

Forms

privar (first-person singular present privo, first-person singular preterite privei, past participle privado)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin prīvō (“to set apart; to free from; to deprive”), recorded from the 14th century.^[2][3][1][4] Wiktionary calls it a learned borrowing, and the REW treats the Romance verbs as learned; the DCECH, writing of Spanish, sees no decisive reason to regard the verb as learned in the western Romance languages.^[1][5][6]

The same Latin verb gave Spanish privar, Catalan privar, French priver and Italian privare.^[5][7]

The Latin verb is formed from prīvus (“single, individual, one's own”).^[8][1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *preiwos and takes it from a stem Proto-Indo-European *prei- (“in front of”), the meaning shifting from “being in front” to “being separate”.^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's earliest forms are privou and priuedes, of the 14th century, and privaão of the 15th.^[2] Cunha dates the noun privado “favourite” to the 13th century, and privação and privança “favour, intimacy” to the 14th.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Morais (1789) gives both the transitive sense, privar da vida, dos bens, and the intransitive “to enjoy someone's favour”, as in privar com o Príncipe.^[10] The sense of close dealings with someone is still current: privar com “to be on intimate terms with”.^[2][11]

The DCECH notes that in Spanish the verb has become a popular substitute for “to forbid”;^[6][2] Houaiss lists “to prevent, forbid” as the first sense in Portuguese too.^[6][2] On social media it means to make an account private.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – first record of the noun privado “favourite”.^[3]
• 14th century – first records of the verb, privou and priuedes.^[2][3]
• 15th century – the form privaão.^[2]
• 1548 – a private letter spells it prevando.^[12]
• 1697 – Pereira renders Privar by Latin privo, destituo and viduo.^[13]
• 1789 – Morais records privar com o Príncipe.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To keep someone from something; to prevent, forbid: privar o filho de sair.^[2][11]
2. To deprive (of), take away, dispossess: privar alguém dos seus direitos.^[2][11][14]
3. (reflexive) To go without; to abstain (from): privar-se de doces.^[2][14][1]
4. (with com or de) To be on intimate terms with; to enjoy someone's favour.^[2][11][1]
5. (social media) To make (an account) private.^[1]

Word family

• privamento

Related words

• privação
• privado
• privança
• privativo
• privacidade
• Latin prīvus
• Spanish privar

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 j k Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. privar
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. privar
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. privar
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. privare
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 655
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. priver
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. prīuō
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ 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, 246
11. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. privar
12. ^ 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. privar
13. ^ 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. privar
14. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. privar