represália

Forms

represália f (plural represálias)^[1] The 15th-century texts write represarya and repressarias; the spelling represalia is recorded before 1560.^[2] Cunha also has represaria from the 15th century.^[3]

Etymology

According to Houaiss it is borrowed from Medieval Latin reprensalia (“reprisals by capture”), a word of the 13th century, which he derives from reprehēnsus, the past participle of Latin reprehendō (“to hold back, seize; to blame”).^[2][4] He notes the word in Catalan in the 14th century, in a text of the Consulado do Mar, in Italian as rappresaglia and ripresaglia in 1401, in French as reprisailles in 1405, and in Spanish as represalia.^[2] Cunha, Nascentes, Aurélio and the Porto dictionary instead derive the Portuguese word from the older of the two Italian forms named above.^[3][5][6][7] The DLP gives Old Italian represalia;^[8][9][10] Michaelis and Wikcionário point to the Spanish word.^[8][9][10]

Cunha connects the Italian word with ripresa (“reproof”), from riprendere, from the Latin verb.^[3] The DELI and Nocentini start the Italian word from represalia, a collective noun in -alia formed from represa (“a taking”), and record rapresaglia at Prato in 1275.^[11][12] The DLE likewise derives the Spanish word from the Medieval Latin one.^[13] The Latin verb is a compound of re- and prehendō (“to catch, grasp”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the first records, represarya and repressarias, to the 15th century, from Cunha's medieval index; his sense is an act against someone to avenge an offence or to obtain compensation.^[2] Cunha dates the modern spelling represália to 1813.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Early dictionaries define the word as a law of war: Feijó (1734) calls it the right of princes to take from their enemies what these had taken from them.^[14] Vieira (1871–1874) gives the same right, then, as a familiar term and by extension, any revenge for an offence, and the confiscation of the goods of enemy subjects.^[15]

Today the word means revenge or retaliation in general, mostly in the plural, and in international law the coercive measures one state takes against another in answer to an unlawful act.^[6][16][8] The old sense of seizing enemy goods as compensation is now marked as dated.^[8]

Timeline

• 1400s – first records, spelt represarya and repressarias.^[2]
• before 1560 – the spelling represalia.^[2]
• 1734 – Feijó defines it as a right of princes against their enemies.^[14]
• 1813 – Cunha's date for represália.^[3]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira records the extended sense “revenge for an offence”.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. retaliation, revenge: harm done to someone in return for harm suffered; often in the plural: Temiam represálias depois da denúncia.^[2][6][16]
2. (international law) A coercive measure taken by a state against another in answer to an unlawful act of that state.^[8][7][9]
3. (dated, military) The seizure of the enemy's goods to make up for those the enemy took.^[8][9]

Related words

• represa
• repreender
• Italian rappresaglia
• Spanish represalia

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. represália
3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. represália
4. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. reprensalia
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. represália
6. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. represália
7. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8010
8. ^ a b c d e f 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. represália
9. ^ a b c d 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. represália
10. ^ a b Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org
11. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli, p. s.v. rappresaglia
12. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. rappresaglia
13. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. represalia
14. ^ 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. represália
15. ^ a b 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, 220
16. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. represália