sentir

Forms

sentir (first-person singular present sinto, third-person singular present sente, first-person singular preterite senti, past participle sentido)^[1] The oldest texts have the present forms senço (also sinto) and the subjunctive sença, sençades.^[2][3] Houaiss records sintir and ssetyo in the 14th century and sintio in the 15th.^[4] Feijó (1734) insists on sentir, not sintir, because the Latin verb has e.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sentiō (“to perceive, feel”), written Old Galician-Portuguese sentir in the oldest texts.^[4][6][1][7]

The same Latin verb is Galician sentir, Spanish sentir, Catalan sentir, French sentir, Italian sentire and Romanian simți.^[8][1] In Latin it already meant both “perceive by the senses” and “think, hold an opinion”, and in law “give a verdict”.^[4][9]

De Vaan reconstructs the Latin verb as Proto-Indo-European *sent- (“to notice”), with a close match in Balto-Slavic words for thinking such as sintė́ti (“to think”).^[10] Whether this is the same root as the one meaning “to go”, seen in *sandjan- (“to send”), he considers doubtful;^[10][1] Wiktionary glosses the root “to head for, go”.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cancioneiro da Ajuda has the verb with its old present senço and the forms sentisse and sentirei.^[2] In the cantigas it means to feel, notice or suffer, to pity or lament, and, reflexive, to grieve or to feel oneself in some state.^[3] Fernão Rodrigues de Calheiros writes e haverei ora a sentir “and now I shall have to suffer for it”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The senses of perceiving, of experiencing an emotion and of regret were all there in the medieval language.^[3] Barbosa (1611) adds sentir “take to heart, be grieved”, and Bluteau (1712–1728) gives it first as “to be of an opinion”, quoting O sentir mais commum dos Theologos “the most common view of the theologians” from Vieira with the infinitive as a noun.^[12][13] Morais (1813) has it for hearing footsteps in the house or a door being opened.^[14]

In Trás-os-Montes and elsewhere in Portugal sentir also means simply “to hear”.^[15][16] In Brazil it is said of a dog that scents game, and of cattle suffering from hunger.^[15] Houaiss also has a plant that sente a move, losing vigour after it, and Wiktionary a sports sense, “to be badly affected by”.^[4][1]

Timeline

• 13th century – senço, sentisse and sentirei in the Cancioneiro da Ajuda.^[2][6]
• 13th century – the participle sentido, later a noun “sense”.^[6]
• 14th century – the spelling sintir.^[4]
• 15th century – first record of sentimento.^[6]
• c. 1430 – sentir in the Horto do Esposo.^[17]
• 16th century – ressentir and ressentido.^[6]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses sentir with Latin sentio.^[18]
• 1611 – Barbosa has sentir “take to heart”.^[12]
• 1734 – Feijó rejects the spelling sintir.^[5]
• 18th century – first record of sentimental.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To perceive through any of the senses; to feel, smell, taste or hear: Senti o cheiro do pão acabado de sair do forno.^[4][19][1]
2. To experience a sensation or an emotion: Sentiu uma tristeza enorme.^[4][20][1]
3. (reflexive) To feel (in a certain state): Hoje sinto-me melhor.^[4][1]
4. To be sensitive to, be moved by; to take offence at: Sentiu muito aquelas palavras.^[4][1]
5. To hear faintly, to overhear;^[4][15][1] (regional, Portugal) to hear.^[4][15][1]
6. To sense in advance, foresee; to suspect from signs.^[4][1]
7. To understand and appreciate, especially a work of art.^[4][21]
8. To be convinced, to believe: Sinto que vamos ganhar.^[4][20]
9. (intransitive) To be sorry, to regret;^[4][1] sinto muito “I am very sorry”.^[4][1]
10. To suffer the effects of; of a plant, to lose vigour after a change.^[4][1]

Noun

1. o sentir: a way of feeling or judging; an opinion.^[22][13]

Word family

• ressentido
• ressentir
• sentido
• sentimento

Related words

• sensação
• sensato
• sensibilidade
• sensibilizar
• sensitivo
• sensível
• sentidamente
• consentir
• Latin sentiō
• Spanish sentir

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. sentir
3. ^ a b c 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. sentir
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. sentir
5. ^ a b Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. sentir
6. ^ a b c d e f Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. sentir
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. sentir
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. sentire
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. sentiō
10. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ 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. sentir
12. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. sentir
13. ^ 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. sentir
14. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 688
15. ^ a b c d 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. sentir
16. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. sentir
17. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. sentir
18. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. sentir
19. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. sentir
20. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. sentir
21. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8416
22. ^ 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. sentir