selar

selar¹ to seal

Pronunciation

• Brazil: /seˈla(ʁ)/, [seˈla(h)]^[1]
• São-Paulo: /seˈla(ɾ)/^[1]
• Rio-de-Janeiro: /seˈla(ʁ)/, [seˈla(χ)]^[1]
• Caipira: /seˈla(ɻ)/^[1]

Forms

selar (first-person singular present selo, first-person singular preterite selei, past participle selado)^[1]

Etymology

The word for “to seal” is inherited from Latin sigillō (“to seal”) (Cunha cites the infinitive sigillare), written Old Galician-Portuguese seelar in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1][4] Houaiss calls it the popular outcome of the Latin verb, beside the learned doublet sigilar.^[2][1] The Latin verb is formed from sigillum (“seal, small figure”), a diminutive of signum (“sign, mark”).^[1][5]

The same Latin verb is Galician selar, Spanish sellar, Catalan segellar, Occitan selar, French sceller and Italian suggellare.^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's earliest records are charters: in 1257 “this our open letter sealed with our seals” (esta nossa carta aberta seelada de nossos seelos), in 1260 ffaso sseellar “I have it sealed” with a hanging seal, and in 1261 aséélada do séélo.^[4] One of the Cantigas de Santa Maria tells how someone set everything down in a letter and then sealed it (e des i ar seelou-a).^[4] In the Crónica Troiana the word already means “to imprint”: the rings of a coat of mail left their mark on a warrior's head.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Viterbo found saylar “to confirm with a seal” in a document of 1280.^[7][2] A satirical cantiga uses seelar for serving notice by a sealed letter.^[4][8] Later senses include “to put a postage stamp or postmark on”, and the derived noun is selagem (spelt sellagem in 1836).^[2][3] Figurative uses followed from the sealed document: to close tightly, to confirm a pact, to bring something to an end.^[2][9] Houaiss also records the reflexive senses “to get stained” and “to submit to”, and in football “to hit hard” (like carimbar).^[2]

Timeline

• 1257 – seelada “sealed” in a charter, and sseellar in one of 1260.^[4]
• 1280 – saylar “to confirm with a seal” in a document of the Benedictines of Porto.^[7][2]
• 13th century – Cunha's date, with the forms sseelar and asséélar.^[3]
• c. 1525 – seelar in the Memorial da Infanta Santa Joana.^[10]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders Selar by Latin sigillo.^[11]
• 1836 – first record of sellagem;^[3] selagem in 1844.^[3]
• 1871 – Vieira enters the verb under the spelling sellar.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To seal a document; to mark it with a signet (sinete) or official stamp.^[2][9][13]
2. To put a postage stamp (selo) or postmark on: selar um envelope.^[2][9][14]
3. To print figures or patterns on, to stamp (a fabric).^[2]
4. To close tightly or hermetically: selar um frasco.^[2][9][15]
5. (figurative) To confirm or ratify: selar um acordo.^[2][9][14]
6. (figurative) To end, conclude.^[2][9][14]
7. (reflexive and transitive) To get stained or dirty.^[2][13][14]
8. (reflexive) To submit to, accept.^[2][9]
9. (football) To hit (an opponent) hard with the ball, like carimbar.^[2]

Word family

• selagem

selar² to saddle

Pronunciation

• Brazil: /seˈla(ʁ)/, [seˈla(h)]^[1]
• São-Paulo: /seˈla(ɾ)/^[1]
• Rio-de-Janeiro: /seˈla(ʁ)/, [seˈla(χ)]^[1]
• Caipira: /seˈla(ɻ)/^[1]

Forms

selar (first-person singular present selo, first-person singular preterite selei, past participle selado)^[1]

Etymology

The word for “to saddle” is formed from Portuguese sela + -ar, from the noun for “saddle”.^{[2][16][1][13][17]} The noun comes from Latin sella (“seat, chair”).^[18][19]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's earliest example is in a cantiga of Dom Denis: “saddle the little bay and get ready to go” (selad'o bayorinho / e guysade d'andar).^[17][20] Houaiss and Cunha date the verb to the 13th century.^[2][16]

Semantic evolution

The Crónica of 1344 speaks of two hundred horses “saddled and bridled” (cauallos sellados et emfreados), and the Graal spells the verb like the other selar: foi-se enfrear seu cavalo e seelou-o.^[17] Lorenzo found only one example in Morais, and notes that the verb is missing in modern Galician.^[17] In Brazil and in parts of Portugal it is also intransitive, “to sag under a weight”, of a roof or a shelf.^[2][9][13]

Timeline

• 13th century – selad'o bel cavalo in a cantiga of Dom Denis.^[17][2]
• 1344 – cauallos sellados et emfreados in the Crónica of 1344.^[17]
• 15th century – the spellings seellassem and sellar.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To saddle (a horse or other mount).^{[2][9][14][1]}
2. (Brazil, regional Portugal; intransitive) To sag or bend under a weight.^[2][9][13]