reduzir

Forms

reduzir (first-person singular present reduzo, first-person singular preterite reduzi, past participle reduzido)^[1] The 14th century has reduzer (reduzeras); reduzir is recorded from the 15th, also spelt reduziir.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin redūcō (“to lead back, bring back”), written Old Galician-Portuguese reduzer in the oldest texts.^[3][2][1] Nascentes considers it semi-learned, and Wiktionary says it may have been borrowed from Latin rather than inherited.^[5][1]

The same Latin verb is Spanish reducir, Italian ridurre and French réduire, the French one remade on the model of French conduire.^[4][6]

The Latin verb is formed from re- (“back”) and dūcō (“to lead”).^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record in Lorenzo's chronology is a Galician charter of 1320, in a legal sense: et que seia Reduzcida a a pena que he contiuda en este strumento “and that it be brought under the penalty set out in this instrument”.^[8] Houaiss dates the verb to the 14th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The first senses kept the Latin “bring back”: Morais (1789) defines it as “to put back in the old place or state”, quoting Arrais for setting a dislocated bone and God bringing the Jews back to their land, and adds bringing rebels to obedience and heretics to the faith.^[9] Barbosa (1611) and Bluteau render it by Latin redigo “to bring into a state”.^[10][11] Houaiss still records the surgical “to reduce a fracture”, the Jesuits' “to bring the natives to the faith”, and “to subdue, take a town”.^[3]

Today the sense “to make smaller” heads the dictionaries, beside the technical senses of arithmetic (simplifying a fraction), chemistry (separating from a compound, lowering an ion's charge) and music (arranging for fewer instruments).^[3][12] In Brazil reduzir also means to change into a lower gear.^[3]

Timeline

• 1320 – reduzcida in a Galician charter.^[8]
• 1300s – the form reduzer.^[2][3]
• 1400s – the form reduzir.^[2]
• 1611 – Barbosa renders it by Latin redigo.^[10]
• 1697 – Pereira gives Latin redigo, reduco and revoco.^[13]
• 1789 – Morais's first sense is “to put back in its place or former state”.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make or become smaller or less; to reduce, diminish: reduzir o consumo de água.^[3][12][1]
2. To shorten, abridge, summarise: reduzir um texto a uma página.^[3]
3. To limit, restrict;^[3][14] (reflexive) to come down to: Tudo se reduz a uma questão de tempo.^[3][14]
4. To subdue, conquer; to take (a besieged place).^[3][12]
5. To force into a state, especially a painful one: reduzir alguém à miséria.^[3]
6. To change into another form or state; to convert: reduzir a pó.^[3][15]
7. To soften, ease (pain, wind).^[3]
8. To bring over, win (to a faith or cause).^[3]
9. To translate; to express in other units; to exchange (money).^[3][15]
10. (surgery) To set (a dislocated or broken bone) back in place.^[3]
11. (mathematics) To simplify (a fraction).^[3]
12. (chemistry) To separate from a compound; to lower the positive charge of an ion.^[3]
13. (Brazil, motoring) To change down a gear.^[3]

Word family

• reduzido
• redutor

Related words

• redução
• conduzir
• aduzir
• Latin redūcō
• Spanish reducir

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. redução
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. reduzir
4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 437
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. reduzir
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. réduire
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. redūcō
8. ^ a b 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. reduzir
9. ^ 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, 304
10. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. reduzir
11. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. reduzir
12. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. reduzir
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. reduzir
14. ^ 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. reduzir
15. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. reduzir