significar

Forms

significar (first-person singular present significo, first-person singular preterite signifiquei, past participle significado)^[1] Medieval texts also have the popular forms sinificar, sinjficar and senificar.^[2][3][4][5] Bluteau (1712–1728) still heads the word significar, ou sinificar.^[6] Sinificar is recorded as a dialect form in Portugal in the 20th century.^[7]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin significō (“to show by signs, to indicate”), a learned word.^[2][3][1][8] The Latin verb is formed from signum (“sign, token”) and -ficō (“to make”).^[9][1]

The medieval spellings Old Galician-Portuguese sinificar and Old Galician-Portuguese senificar show the learned group /gn/ reduced in popular speech.^[2][4][5]

The same Latin word gave Galician significar and Spanish significar, and Old French senefier, which French remade after the Latin, first as signefier and then as French signifier.^[10][11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 14th century.^[2][3] The Crónica Troiana has nõ lle preguntey que quiria sinificar “I did not ask him what it meant”, and the Miragres de Santiago use senificã of what a sign stands for, both with the sense “to mean”.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa, Folqman and Bluteau gloss the verb with Latin significare and use it of words: Bluteau's example is a man who does not understand what a word means.^[6][12] Vieira calls it a grammatical term for what a word or phrase expresses.^[13] The senses “to make known, notify” and “to summon formally” are now old-fashioned or legal.^[14][15] Modern dictionaries add “to result in, amount to” and “to matter to someone”.^[16]

Timeline

• 14th century – first records, also as sinificar and senificar.^[2][3][4]
• 15th century – senificava in Houaiss's historical forms.^[2]
• 1636 – significa in a private letter.^[17]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau heads the word significar, ou sinificar.^[6]
• 1813 – first record of the noun significado.^[18]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira treats it as a term of grammar.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. To mean, to have a particular sense: Esta palavra significa “casa” em latim.^[2][19][1]
2. To express, to be the expression of: Que significa esse sorriso?^[2][19]
3. To give to understand, to show: Abanou a cabeça para significar que não.^[2][20]
4. To be a sign of, to denote: A derrota significou o fim do treinador.^[2][19]
5. To be the symbol or representation of.^[3][14]
6. To result in, to amount to; to matter to someone: Esta casa significa muito para mim.^[16][1]
7. (dated, law) To make known, to notify formally.^[14][15]

Word family

• ressignificar

Related words

• significado
• significante
• significativo
• signo
• sinal
• significação
• Latin signum
• Spanish significar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. significar
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. significar
4. ^ a b c d 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. sinificar
5. ^ 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. senificar
6. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. significar
7. ^ 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. significar
8. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. significar
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. significo
10. ^ 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. significar
11. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. signifier
12. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. significar
13. ^ a b 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, 521
14. ^ a b c 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. significar
15. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. significar
16. ^ a b 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. significar
17. ^ CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. significar
18. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. significado
19. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. significar
20. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8487