saudar

Forms

saudar (first-person singular present saúdo, first-person singular preterite saudei, past participle saudado)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese had both saudar and soudar.^[2][3] Wiktionary lists the older spellings saùdar and saüdar, which marked the hiatus.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin salūtō (“to greet”), written Old Galician-Portuguese saudar and Old Galician-Portuguese soudar in the oldest texts.^{[3][4][2][1][5]} The Latin verb is formed on salūs (“health, safety; greeting”), so that to greet was to wish someone health.^[1][6][7]

The same Latin word is Galician saudar, Spanish saludar, Catalan saludar, Occitan saludar, French saluer and Italian salutare.^[8][1] The Romanian verb săruta has come to mean “to kiss”, and Old Spanish saludar could also mean that.^[8]

The noun salūs goes back to *salūts and *solh₂- (“whole”), the root of salvus (“safe”) as well.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria begin with the Annunciation, como foy saudada / de Gabriel “how she was greeted by Gabriel”, and tell of a thief whom the Virgin saved from the gallows porque a saudava “because he used to greet her”.^[2] From the 14th century the Crónica Geral of 1344 and the Crónica Troiana use it for sending greetings: muyto vos ẽvya saudar dom R. “Don R. sends you many greetings”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau defines the verb by the gestures of courtesy: wishing good day, saying Deos vos salve “God save you”, raising the hat.^[9] Morais (1789) still explains it as wishing one another health, and adds the sense of hailing a newly chosen king, consul or emperor with his titles.^[10][11] Later dictionaries add “to acclaim, cheer”, “to rejoice at the sight of, praise” and, at sea, to salute with gun salvos.^[3][12] The infinitive was also used as a noun, saudar “greeting”, which Michaelis marks as old, in muitos saudares.^[3][13]

Timeline

• 13th century – saudada and saudava in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[2][4]
• 1200s – first record of the noun saudação.^[4]
• 1344 – ẽvya saudar in the Crónica Geral.^[2]
• 1438 – saudar in the Vida de Santa Eufrosina (witness 1431–1446).^[14]
• 1500s – first record of saudador.^[4]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses Saudar with Latin saluto.^[15]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau describes the courtesies of greeting.^[9]
• 1813 – first record of saudante.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To greet;^[3][16][1] (reflexive) to greet one another.^[3][16][1]
2. To send greetings or good wishes to.^[12]
3. To show respect or support for; to acclaim, cheer: Os adeptos saudaram a equipa.^[3][17]
4. To rejoice at the sight of; to praise.^[3][18]
5. To salute with gun salvos.^[12]

Noun

1. (old) A greeting (saudação).^[3][13]

Word family

• saudação
• saudador
• saudante

Related words

• saúde
• salvar
• Latin saluto
• Galician saudar
• Spanish saludar

Usage notes

The a and u are pronounced in hiatus, and the stressed u of the present takes an accent: saúdo, saúda.^[3][1]

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 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. saudar
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. saudar
4. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. saudar
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. saudar
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. saluto
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 461
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7556
9. ^ 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. saudar
10. ^ 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, 379
11. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 672
12. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. saudar
13. ^ a b 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. saudar
14. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. saudar
15. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. saudar
16. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. saudar
17. ^ 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. saudar
18. ^ 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. saudar