reter

Forms

reter (first-person singular present retenho, first-person singular preterite retive, past participle retido)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote the infinitive reteer, retẽer and rreteer, with preterites such as reteuo and reteveron.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin retineō (“to hold back, retain”), written Old Galician-Portuguese reteer in the oldest texts.^[3][4][2][1] Nascentes traces the modern form through that stage, with the loss of the Latin /n/ between vowels.^[5] The two vowels of the old form later merged.^[2][3]

The same Latin verb gave Galician reter, Spanish retener, Catalan retenir, French retenir, Italian ritenere and Romanian reține.^[6][1]

The Latin verb is formed from re- (“back”) and teneō (“to hold”), which de Vaan derives from Proto-Indo-European *tn-eh₁- (“to hold”).^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A document of 1211 has Reteendo lhi o sseu auer “withholding his property from him”, the sense “to keep what belongs to another”.^[2] The Cantigas de Santa Maria have a outra reteveron pera ssi “they kept the other for themselves”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The medieval senses are those of keeping: holding on to property and possessions, as in a charter of 1305 that allows its holders to retẽer as possissões.^[2] Bluteau (1712–1728) defines it as not letting go, not sending away, and quotes Vieira's sermon on keeping an office at the cost of one's conscience.^[8] Morais (1813) adds holding back the bodily evacuations, keeping a man in prison and seizing ships in reprisal.^[9] The old Caldas Aulete has the legal direito de retenção and the figurative “to exploit”; modern dictionaries add keeping something in memory and restraining an emotion.^[10][11][12]

Timeline

• 1211 – reteendo in a document.^[2]
• 13th century – reteveron in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[2][3]
• 14th century – the infinitive spelt reteer and rretẽer.^[3][2]
• 1518 – reter in the Espelho de Cristina.^[13]
• 1569 – Cardoso translates it with Latin retineo.^[14]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines it as not letting go.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To keep, retain; not to give up something one has: Retém ainda a casa dos pais.^[3][11][1]
2. To keep in one's power what belongs to another; to withhold.^[3][15][1]
3. To hold firmly; not to let go of: Retinha o cão pela trela.^[3][16]
4. To keep someone from leaving; to detain, hold in custody.^[11][15]
5. To hold back, restrain or repress: to keep back tears or anger.^[11][12]
6. To keep in the memory.^[11][12]
7. (law) To keep something by the right of retention.^[17]
8. (reflexive) To restrain oneself; to hold on; to stop or stay.^[15][1]

Word family

• retido

Related words

• retenção
• retenida
• retentivo
• rédea
• ter
• deter
• Galician reter
• Spanish retener

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 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. reteer
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. reter
4. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. reter
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. reter
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. retinere
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ 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. reter
9. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 20
10. ^ 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. reter
11. ^ a b c d e Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8069
12. ^ 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. reter
13. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. reter
14. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. reter
15. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. reter
16. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. reter
17. ^ 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. reter