revolver

Forms

revolver (first-person singular present revolvo, first-person singular preterite revolvi, past participle revolvido, short past participle revolto)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin revolvō (“to roll back, to unroll”), a word already found in the 13th century.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin verb is formed from re- (“back, again”) and volvō (“to roll”).^[5][1]

The same Latin word is Spanish revolver, Old French revoudre and Italian rivolgere.^[6] The simple verb goes back to Proto-Italic *wolwō and further to Proto-Indo-European *welH- (“to turn, wind”), and it is related to Ancient Greek ἑλίσσω (helíssō, “to turn round”).^[1] De Vaan lists the compound among the oldest derivatives of the simple verb, recorded from Terence on.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria use the verb for leafing through a book: quen catar e revolver / estes salmos “whoever looks into and turns over these psalms”.^[8] The same collection has it for turning a thing over in the hands, for throwing a house into disorder, and, of the devil, for scheming.^[8] A cantiga of Pero Mafaldo in the Cancioneiro da Ajuda speaks of turning hearts round, revolver os corações.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

The medieval senses of turning over, stirring and plotting are all still alive.^[8][2] Barbosa in 1611 explains revolver as “to turn” and has revolver a memoria “to go over in the memory”.^[10] Bluteau describes it as moving a thing from one side to the other or round in a circle, and gives turning the soil with the plough and the winds stirring up the sea.^[11] Morais in 1813 defines it as moving something in a disorderly way, as in digging the earth, and as moving round in a circle.^[12]

Houaiss adds the modern figurative senses: stirring up feelings, turning people against their superiors, examining something closely and calling the past back to mind.^[2] A Portuguese dialect survey of 1959 recorded revolver in the sense “to miscarry”.^[13]

Timeline

• 13th century – the Cantigas de Santa Maria use revolver of leafing through psalms and of throwing a house into disorder.^[8][2]
• 1611 – Barbosa gives revolver ou virar and revolver a memoria.^[10]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau's examples include turning the soil with the plough.^[11]
• 1813 – Morais defines the verb as moving in disorder or in a circle.^[12]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira quotes the verb from 16th-century poetry, of oars churning up the water.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive and reflexive) To turn over or round, to twist: Revolveu-se no sofá a noite inteira.^[2][15]
2. To move or stir something from its place, or to move about: O vento revolvia as folhas secas.^[2][16]
3. To churn, to agitate, also figuratively of feelings.^[2]
4. To dig and turn the soil, mixing it: revolver o solo da horta.^[2][17][1]
5. To throw into disorder, to rummage through: Revolveu as gavetas à procura da chave.^[2][16]
6. (transitive and reflexive) To turn against, to stir up to revolt.^[2][16]
7. To examine closely, to search through: revolver os arquivos.^[2][17][1]
8. To call back to mind, to ponder at length: Passou o dia a revolver o passado.^[2][18]
9. To roll (the eyes).^[19][1]

Related words

• revolto
• revólver
• volver
• Latin revolvō
• Spanish revolver

Usage notes

Wiktionary also has a noun revolver, but it is only the spelling used before the reforms (until 1911 in Portugal and 1943 in Brazil) of revólver “revolver, handgun”.^[1] That noun is a separate borrowing of the 19th century, from English, first recorded in Caldas Aulete's dictionary of 1881.^[20][21]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. revolver
3. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. volta
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. revolver
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. revolvō
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7284
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 c d e 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. revolver
9. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. revolver
10. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. revolver
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. revolver
12. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 29
13. ^ 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. revolver
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, 285
15. ^ 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. revolver
16. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. revolver
17. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. revolver
18. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8111
19. ^ 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. revolver
20. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. revólver
21. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. revólver