quiçá

Forms

quiçá^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote quiça and quicay in the 13th century and quiçays in the 14th; the cantigas d'amigo also have quiçai.^[2][3]

Etymology

Houaiss and Cunha explain it as borrowed from Spanish quizá (“perhaps”), recorded in Spanish from the 13th century, a reduction of Old Spanish quiçab (c. 1140) and quiçabe, which are alterations of qui sabe (“who knows”).^[2][4][5] Cunha takes the phrase back to Latin quī (“who”) sapit (“knows”).^[4] The older Spanish form is first found in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[6] Wiktionary instead derives the Portuguese word through Old Galician-Portuguese quiça and Old Galician-Portuguese quiçai from the phrase as spoken in Vulgar Latin, possibly by way of Old Spanish, and the DLP and Porto Editora give the neuter quid (“what”) in place of the masculine.^[1][7][8] Nascentes finds the ⟨ç⟩ hard to explain.^[9]

Wiktionary compares Galician quizá and Italian chissà, and notes that quem sabe is a doublet.^[1] Bluteau reported a view that the word came from Italian chi sa (“who knows”), and Morais (1813) gave the same.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The satirical cantigas of the 13th century already use it as “perhaps”: quiçá o fazen por delivrar / sas bestas “perhaps they do it to be rid of their beasts” (Alfonso X), and Quiçá nono pod' assi guarecer “perhaps he cannot be cured that way” (Gonçal' Eanes do Vinhal).^[3] Houaiss and Cunha date the word to that century.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa (1611) renders it by the Latin fortasse and forsitan.^[12] Bluteau (1712–1728) calls it little used, the same as por ventura, and quotes it from Jacinto Freire and other writers of the 17th century.^[10] Morais (1813) defines it as talvez, por ventura, with examples from Barros, Paiva and Arrais.^[11]

Timeline

• 13th century – quiça and quicay; the satirical cantigas use quiçá.^[2][3]
• 14th century – quiçays.^[2]
• 1611 – Barbosa renders it by the Latin fortasse.^[12]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau calls it little used.^[10]
• 1813 – Morais defines it as talvez.^[11]

Meanings

Adverb

1. perhaps, maybe; possibly but not certainly; talvez, porventura: Quiçá nos vejamos no verão.^{[2][13][14][8][1]}

Related words

• quem
• saber
• Spanish quizá

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. quiçá
3. ^ a b c 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. quiçá
4. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. quiçá
5. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. quizá
6. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 738
7. ^ 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. quiçá
8. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7665
9. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. quiçá
10. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. quiçá
11. ^ a b c Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 541
12. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. quiçá
13. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. quiçá
14. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. quiçá