satisfazer

Forms

satisfazer (first-person singular present satisfaço, first-person singular preterite satisfiz, past participle satisfeito)^[1] Houaiss records the 14th-century forms satisfazendo (1340), satisfezessem (1365), satisfazer and satisfacer, and ssatisffazendo in the 15th century.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin satisfaciō (“to give satisfaction, to do enough”), first recorded in 1340.^[2][3][1] Nascentes calls it a semi-learned word, and Houaiss files it with the words formed on the elements ⟨satis-⟩ “enough” and ⟨faz-⟩, the stem of fazer.^[4][2] Beside the modern spelling the 14th century also wrote Old Galician-Portuguese satisfacer, nearer to the Latin spelling.^[2]

The same Latin verb gave Spanish satisfacer and Italian soddisfare.^[5][1]

The Latin verb is a compound of satis (“enough”) and faciō (“to make, do”), and the OLD notes that Latin also wrote it divided.^[6][1] Its first sense in Latin was to satisfy a creditor, usually with a pledge or other substitute payment.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the verb to 1340, from Cunha's medieval slips, in the gerund satisfazendo.^[2] The early Portuguese–Latin dictionaries simply give the Latin verb as its equivalent: Cardoso (1569) translates it satisfacio, and Pereira (1697) adds solvo “to pay off”.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

The derivatives followed soon: Cunha dates satisfação and the participle satisfazente to the 14th century and satisfeito to the 15th.^[3] Folqman's dictionary of 1755 has the phrases “to satisfy one's obligation” and “to satisfy one's hunger”, the two lines along which the verb developed: paying or fulfilling what is due, and sating a need.^[9] Morais (1813) puts first “to pay a debt, an obligation, a service”, then “to fulfil one's duties, promises or a superior's orders”.^[10] Vieira (1871–1874) also defines it first as paying a debt, with a quotation from Diogo de Couto's Décadas.^[11]

Today the commonest senses are “to please, to be enough” and “to fulfil”.^[2][12] Houaiss also records a religious sense, to make the satisfaction required for one's sins to be forgiven, a reflexive “to take revenge”, and a mathematical sense, said of a value that makes an equation true.^[2][13]

Timeline

• 1340 – first record, in the form satisfazendo.^[2]
• 1365 – the form satisfezessem; the 14th century also has satisfacer.^[2]
• 14th century – first record of satisfação.^[3]
• 15th century – first record of satisfeito.^[3]
• 1491 – satisfazer in the Vida de Santo Elói.^[14]
• 1569 – Cardoso's Portuguese–Latin dictionary renders it satisfacio.^[7]
• 1755 – Folqman lists satisfazer a fome “to satisfy one's hunger”.^[9]
• 1813 – Morais defines it first as paying a debt or an obligation.^[10]
• 20th century – first records of insatisfeito and insatisfação.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To seek the satisfaction or fulfilment of a desire: Enfim pôde satisfazer à sua curiosidade.^[2]
2. To carry out or fulfil (a promise, a request, a need): A prefeitura não satisfaz as necessidades do bairro.^[2][12]
3. To be enough or suitable; to please or content; reflexive, to be content: O resultado não satisfez os críticos.^[2][15][1]
4. To meet (requirements) fully.^[2]
5. To pay what is owed; to make good a loss; to indemnify.^[2][12]
6. To sate (hunger, thirst, a craving); reflexive, to eat or drink one's fill.^[2][13]
7. To convince or persuade (someone).^[2][13]
8. (religion) To do what is required to be forgiven one's sins.^[2]
9. (reflexive) To take revenge.^[2][13]
10. (mathematics) To make (an equation or relation) true.^[2][13]

Word family

• satisfeito
• insatisfeito

Related words

• satisfação
• satisfatoriamente
• satisfatório
• insatisfação
• fazer
• Latin satisfaciō
• Spanish satisfacer

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. satisfazer
3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. satisfazer
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. satisfazer
5. ^ 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. satisfacer
6. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. satisfaciō
7. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. satisfazer
8. ^ 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. satisfazer
9. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. satisfazer
10. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 671
11. ^ 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, 415
12. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. satisfazer
13. ^ a b c d e Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8328
14. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. satisfazer
15. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. satisfazer