sem

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sine (“without”), written Old Galician-Portuguese sen in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1]

The same Latin word is Galician sen, Catalan sens and Old Spanish sen, a form not rare in medieval texts, especially Leonese and Aragonese ones.^[4][5] Corominas finds the modern Spanish sin isolated in Romance, since the Latin word should regularly have kept its vowel e there.^[4] The REW treats French sans and Italian senza separately, and Wiktionary explains the French word as the Latin word blended with absentia.^[6][1]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *sn(H)i and Proto-Indo-European *sn̥h₁-i, perhaps a locative, and compares Ancient Greek ἄνευ (áneu, “without”), Old High German suntar (“without”) and Tocharian B snai (“without”).^[7] Wiktionary gives the root as *sene and notes that older Latin expressed “without” with sē.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria use sen freely: morreu sen confisson “he died without confession”, sen aver pitança “without having a pittance”, and many fixed phrases such as sen dulta “without doubt” and sen demora “without delay”.^[8] In the Cancioneiro da Ajuda it forms adjective phrases equivalent to a prefix of privation, such as sen mesura, sen ventura and sen sabor.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Medieval texts also use it for “apart from, besides” and, in the cantigas d'amigo, for “except, unless”.^[8] Viterbo found it used for “not” in old documents, as in sem declarando “not declaring”.^[9] Morais describes it in 1789 as a preposition of exclusion before a noun or a clause.^[10]

From the 19th century sem also works as a prefix for privation, as in sem-vergonha and sem-terra.^[11] The word passed into Macanese as sim and into Ambonese Malay as seng.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records, spelt sen.^[2][3]
• 14th century – the spelling sem.^[2][3]
• 1416 – sem in the Vida do Cativo Monge Confesso.^[12]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists many phrases with it, such as sem cuydado and sem honra.^[13]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as a preposition of exclusion.^[10]
• 1798–1799 – Viterbo records its old use for “not”.^[9]
• 19th century – sem- begins to be used as a prefix.^[11]

Meanings

Preposition

1. without: indicating absence, lack or privation: um homem sem medo.^[2][11][1]
2. (before an infinitive) Without doing: Partiu sem dizer adeus.^[2][14][1]
3. (before an infinitive) Expressing concession or a condition not met: Sem o saber, ajudou-nos muito.^[2][14]
4. except, apart from: Vieram todos sem o diretor.^[15][11]

Word family

• sem-noção
• sem-terra
• sem-vergonha

Related words

• Latin sine
• Galician sen
• Spanish sin

Usage notes

Common fixed phrases are sem dúvida “certainly”, sem mais nem menos “for no reason, suddenly” and sem tirar nem pôr “exactly”;^[16][15] sem que introduces a clause in the subjunctive.^[16][15] Sem sounds the same as cem “hundred”.^[15][17]

The cantigas also have a noun sen or sem “sense, judgement”, as in perdi o sem e a razom “I lost my sense and reason”, in a cantiga of Dinis;^[18][8] Michaëlis derived it from Old Occitan sen.^[18][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. sem
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. sem
4. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 254
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. sine
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. sine
8. ^ a b c d e 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. sen
9. ^ a b Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 311
10. ^ 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, 387
11. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. sem
12. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. sem
13. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. sem
14. ^ 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. sem
15. ^ a b c d 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. sem
16. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8381
17. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. sem
18. ^ a b Lopes, Graça Videira; Ferreira, Manuel Pedro et al. (2011–), Cantigas Medievais Galego-Portuguesas [online database], Lisboa: Instituto de Estudos Medievais, FCSH/NOVA, https://cantigas.fcsh.unl.pt, p. s.v. sem