rolar

Forms

rolar (first-person singular present rolo, first-person singular preterite rolei, past participle rolado)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French rouler (“to roll”).^{[2][3][1][4][5][6]} In Old French the verb was roeler or roueler, first recorded about 1160.^[7] The French verb is a derivative of ruele, which with its variant roele is an old form of French rouelle (“small wheel”).^[7][2] Houaiss notes that this noun first meant the wheel of a plough, and traces it to Latin rotella, a variant of rotula (“small wheel”), itself a diminutive of rota (“wheel”).^[2][8]

Wiktionary derives the French verb, through Old French roler, from Medieval Latin rotulō (“to roll, revolve”).^[1] The DHLF sees only a partial confusion with this popular Latin verb, which Old Occitan rollat continues about 1300.^[7] Nascentes follows Meyer-Lübke in taking the Portuguese word from French.^[9] Adolfo Coelho had derived it directly from the Latin verb, and Figueiredo from rolo.^[9] García de Diego lists Spanish rolar “to roll” and Old Spanish roldar “to go round” among the Spanish outcomes of the Latin verb.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the first record to 1559, the participle rolado, followed by rolava “was rolling” in 1566.^[2] Morais quotes Couto for the movement of a dismasted ship: as correntes e ventos forão rolando o navio (sem mastros, nem leme) “the currents and winds went rolling the ship along (without masts or rudder)”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau's dictionary gives the verb as a nautical term: the sea rolls when the waves running up the beach form rolls of water.^[12] Feijó (1734) says the same of the waves.^[13] Morais (1789) defines it generally as moving something by turning it over on itself.^[14] Vieira has rolar galgas de pedras “to roll boulders down”.^[15]

Houaiss dates to 1899 the sense “to cut a trunk into logs”, which the original Caldas Aulete and the DLP also record.^[2][16][4] Brazilian Portuguese has given the verb informal senses: to put off paying a debt by setting a new date, to be served in quantity, to spread as news, and since about 1985 simply “to happen”.^[2][5] Wiktionary also records the computing sense “to scroll”.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1160 – the French source is recorded as roeler.^[7]
• 1559 – first record, the participle rolado.^[2]
• 1566 – rolava.^[2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau lists the verb as a nautical term for the rolling of waves.^[12]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as moving something by turning it over on itself.^[14]
• 1836 – first record of rolante.^[17]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira derives it from French rouler.^[15]
• 1899 – the sense “to cut into logs”, and first records of rolamento and rolagem, in Figueiredo's dictionary.^[2][18][19]
• c. 1985 – the Brazilian informal sense “to happen”.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make turn; to spin: rolar a caneta entre os dedos.^[2][20]
2. To roll, to move or make move forward by turning over and over: As crianças rolavam pela relva.^[2][5][1]
3. To fall turning over and over: Uma pedra rolou da encosta.^[2][6]
4. To flow, run (of a liquid): As lágrimas rolavam-lhe pela cara.^[2][6]
5. To run on wheels (of a vehicle).^[2][1]
6. To cut a trunk into logs.^[2][4][20]
7. (Brazil, figurative) To put off paying a debt, usually by setting a new date.^[2][5]
8. To echo, resound (of a sound, of thunder).^[2][4]
9. To swirl; to become rough (of the sea).^[2][20]
10. To toss and turn: Rolou na cama até de manhã.^[2]
11. To pass (of time): Os meses rolavam devagar.^[2][4]
12. (Brazil, informal) To happen, take place: Ontem rolou uma festa na praia.^[2][1]
13. (Brazil, informal) To be served or consumed in quantity; to circulate.^[2][1]
14. (computing) To scroll.^[1]
15. (nautical) To fall off to leeward (of a ship).^[2][20]

Word family

• rolagem
• rolamento
• rolante
• rola-bosta

Related words

• roliço
• rolo
• roda
• Latin rota
• French rouler

Usage notes

The set phrase rolar de rir means to laugh very hard, usually doubled up.^[2]

Houaiss also enters a separate verb rolar “to coo”, formed on rola “turtle dove” with -ar and recorded in the 14th century as rrolar; it means the same as arrulhar.^[2][20][6] Nascentes and Aurélio call it onomatopoeic.^[3][5] Bluteau already lists it as the voice of the dove.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. rolar
3. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. rolar
4. ^ 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. rolar
5. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. rolar
6. ^ 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. rolar
7. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. rouler
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. rotula
9. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 447
10. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. *rotulare
11. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 40
12. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. rolar
13. ^ 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. rolar
14. ^ 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, 354
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, 325
16. ^ 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. rolar
17. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. rolante
18. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. rolamento
19. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. rolagem
20. ^ a b c d e Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. rolar