romper

Forms

romper (first-person singular present rompo, first-person singular preterite rompi, past participle rompido, short past participle (Brazil only) roto)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote romper and ronper, later rõper and rronperom “they broke”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin rumpō (“to break, burst, tear”), written Old Galician-Portuguese romper and Old Galician-Portuguese ronper in the oldest texts.^[2][4][1][5]

The same Latin word is Galician romper, Spanish romper, Catalan rompre, French rompre, Italian rompere and Romanian rupe.^[6][1] Corominas calls it common to all the Romance languages.^[7]

The Latin verb, with the perfect ⟨rūpī⟩ and the participle ⟨ruptum⟩, is old: it appears in the Twelve Tables.^[8][9] Wiktionary derives it from Proto-Italic *rumpō, a present formed with a nasal infix from Proto-Indo-European *Hrewp- (“to break”).^[1] The DHLF notes that the nasal infix is a Latin feature, while the root itself also lives on in Germanic.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's earliest date, 989 (rompe), is taken from Machado's records.^[2] In the Cantigas de Santa Maria a grieving woman begins to tear her clothes (con pesar seus panos se fillou a ronper), and raiders break into a church (romperon a eigreja da Virgen Santa Maria).^[3] A secular cantiga has E rompestes i o vestir “and there you tore your clothing”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The medieval senses, tearing cloth and breaking into a place, have stayed at the centre of the word.^[3][2] Medieval Latin already used the verb for breaking up land with the plough, and Folqman's dictionary of 1755 has romper hum campo “to plough a field for the first time” beside romper o dia “to dawn”.^[12][13] The infinitive became a noun in o romper do dia “daybreak”.^[14][15] Figurative senses followed: to break through difficulties, to charge an enemy, to break a contract or a silence, and to break off relations with someone.^[16][2][17] In rural Brazil the verb also means to go ahead of someone, to set off first.^[18]

Timeline

• 989 – Houaiss's first date, rompe, from Machado's records.^[2]
• 13th century – the Cantigas de Santa Maria use romper and ronper.^[3]
• 1518 – first record in the CTA, in the Espelho de Cristina.^[19]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses the verb with Latin rumpo.^[20]
• 1611 – Barbosa separates romper, ou quebrar “to break” from romper, ou rasgar “to tear”.^[21]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau collects proverbs such as Melhor he descozer, que romper.^[22]
• 1755 – Folqman records romper o dia and romper hum campo.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, also reflexive) To break into pieces; to burst or snap: O saco rompeu-se ao meio.^[2][23][1]
2. (transitive) To tear or wear out (cloth, shoes): Rompeu as calças no arame.^[2][23][1]
3. (transitive) To force open; to break down (a door, a wall).^[2][23]
4. (transitive) To pierce or cut into; to plough (the ground); to cut through (the sea).^[2][23][14]
5. (transitive, intransitive) To make one's way through (a crowd, a forest); to burst in or charge.^[2][24]
6. (transitive) To rout (an army); to break (a law, a contract); to interrupt (a silence).^[2][24]
7. (intransitive) To begin or appear suddenly: romper o dia “to dawn”.^[2][24][13]
8. (intransitive, with com) To break off relations with someone.^[17][1]

Word family

• rompimento

Related words

• roto
• irromper
• interromper
• Latin rumpō
• Spanish romper

Usage notes

Beside the regular participle rompido, Brazil also uses the short form roto, which continues the Latin participle and is recorded from 1010.^[1][25]

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 m Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. romper
3. ^ a b c d 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. romper
4. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. romper
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. romper
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7442
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 49
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. rumpō
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. rompre
11. ^ 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. romper
12. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. rumpere
13. ^ a b c Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. romper
14. ^ a b 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. romper
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. romper
16. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 41
17. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8168
18. ^ 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. romper
19. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. romper
20. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. romper
21. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. romper
22. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. romper
23. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. romper
24. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. romper
25. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. roto