renegar

Forms

renegar (first-person singular present renego, first-person singular preterite reneguei, past participle renegado)^[1] Old forms include rrenega (14th century) and reneguar (15th century).^[2] The variant arrenegar is recorded from the 14th century.^[3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *renegō (“to deny, disown”), formed from re- and negō (“to say no, deny”).^[2][4][5][6] The DLP, Porto Editora and Silva Bastos analyse it instead as a Portuguese formation from negar with the prefix re-.^[7][8][9]

The same Vulgar Latin verb is Galician renegar, Spanish renegar, Catalan renegar, French renier and Italian rinnegare.^[6][4] The DHLF dates the Latin verb, meaning “to refuse”, to the 10th century, and supposes that it took the sense “to abjure one's faith” among the clergy.^[10] The REW notes that it was used above all for denying God and the faith.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria use the verb of abandoning the faith: de Deus e da Virgen renegu' “he renounced God and the Virgin”, and Santa Maria renegarás “you shall renounce Holy Mary”.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

For Bluteau, renegar used on its own still meant to leave the Christian faith, and renegar de Christo to renounce Christ.^[11] Pereira and Feijó give arrenegar as an equivalent form.^[12][13] In a farce quoted by Vieira, renego already serves as an exclamation of disgust: Renego destas respostas.^[14]

The verb widened from faith to any belief, party or person: to abandon one's convictions, to disown a child, to betray a friend, to detest, to curse.^[2][15] The DLP adds the senses “to break a promise” and “to blaspheme”.^[7]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records, in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[2][16][3]
• 14th century – the variant arrenegar and the spelling rrenega.^[3][2]
• 1513 – renegar in the Livro dos Mártires.^[17]
• 1697 – Pereira refers the word to arrenegar.^[12]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines it as leaving the Christian faith.^[11]
• 1734 – Feijó accepts both renegar and arrenegar as usage.^[13]
• 1789 – Morais refers the word to arrenegar.^[18]

Meanings

Verb

1. To renounce solemnly (a religion or belief), to abjure; also with de: renegar a sua religião, renegar de Cristo.^[2][5]
2. To abandon or disown one's ideas, convictions or party.^[2][5][1]
3. To detest, execrate.^[2][5]
4. To betray.^[2][5]
5. To deny, contradict: renegar uma acusação.^[2][5]
6. To reject with contempt, refuse to acknowledge: renegar o próprio pai.^[2][15][1]
7. To curse.^[2][5]
8. To break (a promise or an agreement), to renege.^[7][1]
9. To blaspheme;^[7][19] renegar Deus.^[7][19]

Word family

• renegado

Related words

• negar
• arrenegar
• Galician renegar
• French renier

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. renegar
3. ^ 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. renegar
4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. renegar
5. ^ a b c d e f g Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. renegar
6. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c d e 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. renegar
8. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7986
9. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. renegar
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. renier
11. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. renegar
12. ^ a b 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. renegar
13. ^ 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. renegar
14. ^ Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 5, 205
15. ^ 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. renegar
16. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. renegar
17. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. renegar
18. ^ 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, 321
19. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. renegar