representar

Forms

representar (first-person singular present represento, first-person singular preterite representei, past participle representado)^[1] The oldest records spell it with rr- or double s: rrepresenta in the 14th century, repreessentara in the 15th.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin repraesentō (“to bring before one, show, make present”), a learned word first recorded in the 14th century.^[2][3][4][1] The Academia's dictionary glosses the Latin verb “to make present”.^[5]

The same Latin verb gave Spanish representar, French représenter and Italian rappresentare; the French verb is a borrowing of about 1175.^[6][7][1]

The Latin verb is formed from re- and praesentō (“to present”).^[8][1] In classical Latin it meant “to bring forward to the present, make immediately available” and “to show, exhibit, represent”.^[8][9] Medieval Latin used it for bringing a person before someone and for presenting or delivering a thing.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the first records to the 14th century, with the forms representarmos and rrepresenta.^[2][3] An early prose text quoted by R. Lorenzo, the Soliloquio, speaks of representando e recontãdo os nossos sospiros “setting forth and recounting our sighs”, where the verb means “to set before (the mind), to declare”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Cunha's oldest sense is “to be the image or reproduction of; to show, to signify”, and the derivatives followed: representação (15th century as rrepreentaçom), representador (16th century), representante and representativo (1813).^[3] Cardoso's dictionary of 1569 renders the verb with Latin refero “to report”, and Pereira (1697) adds ago, the Latin verb for performing a play.^[12][13] Folqman (1755) gives representar huma comedia, and Morais (1789) puts the theatrical sense first, followed by acting a part, depicting in paint or words, laying needs or reasons before someone, and standing in for another person, as a son does for his father in an inheritance.^[14][15]

The political and legal senses, acting as minister or ambassador for a country or as the agent of a firm, are among Houaiss's modern senses, beside “to stage”, “to act” and “to feign, to put on airs”.^[2] In Brazilian Portuguese a regional sense “to seem” has been recorded.^[16] The word passed into Hunsrik as rëpresenteere.^[1]

Timeline

• 14th century – first records, spelt representarmos and rrepresenta.^[2][3]
• 15th century – rrepreentaçom, the first record of representação.^[3]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses it with Latin refero.^[12]
• 1576 – the spelling reprezẽtar in a private letter.^[17]
• 1611 – Barbosa renders it with Latin repraesento.^[18]
• 1697 – Pereira adds Latin ago, “to act (a play)”.^[13]
• 1789 – Morais puts the theatrical sense first.^[15]
• 1813 – first records of representante and representativo.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be the image or reproduction of; to depict, to symbolize: A pomba representa a paz.^[2][19][1]
2. To signify, to amount to, to make evident: Esta vitória representa muito para a equipa.^[2][19]
3. (theatre) To stage a play, to put on.^[2][19]
4. (theatre, film, television) To play a part; to act.^[2][5]
5. To act as minister or ambassador of a country.^[2][19]
6. To stand in for, take the place of; to be the agent or attorney of: Um advogado representa a empresa.^[2][5][1]
7. To play a role in real life; to feign, to put on airs.^[2]
8. To set out, verbally or in writing, a situation or request to someone; to lodge a complaint.^[2]
9. (reflexive) To appear to the mind, to be imagined.^[2]

Word family

• representação
• representador
• representante
• representativo
• representável
• sobrerrepresentar

Related words

• presente
• Latin repraesentō
• Spanish representar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. representar
3. ^ a b c d e f Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. representar
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. representar
5. ^ a b c 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. representar
6. ^ 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. representar
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. représenter
8. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. repraesentō
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. repraesento
10. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. repraesentare
11. ^ 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. representar
12. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. representar
13. ^ 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. representar
14. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. representar
15. ^ 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, 326
16. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. representar
17. ^ 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. representar
18. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. representar
19. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. representar