socorrer

Forms

socorrer (first-person singular present socorro, first-person singular preterite socorri, past participle socorrido)^[1] Old forms include sobcorrer, ssobcorrer and, in the 15th century, çocoreo, socoria and ssecorrer.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin succurrō (“to run to help; to aid”).^[3][4][5][6] Wiktionary instead treats it as a learned borrowing from the same Latin verb.^[1] The old form Old Galician-Portuguese sobcorrer, used by Pero Menino, was remade on the preposition sob “under”.^[2]

The same Latin verb is Galician socorrer, Spanish socorrer, Catalan socórrer, Italian soccorrere and French secourir, the French verb remade on courir from the older Old French secorre.^[7][8][1]

The Latin verb is formed sub- (“under”) and currō (“to run”).^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria use the verb for coming to someone's aid: in cantiga 11 a company of angels pola socorrer vẽo “came to help her”, and in cantiga 63 a man chamou Santa Maria que lle socorresse “called on Holy Mary to help him”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to help someone in danger or need” has been constant.^[3][4] Bluteau stressed the idea of haste, explaining the verb by Latin currere “to run”.^[10] Morais (1813) records the reflexive socorrer-se “to turn to someone for help”, and the sense “to give alms”.^[11] In Bahia the verb came to mean supplying another person's boat with what it needs for whaling.^[3][12][13] The noun socorro, a back-formation from the verb, is recorded from the 15th century.^[4]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records, in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[3][4][2]
• 15th century – first records of socorro, socorrimento and socorredor.^[4]
• After 1450 – the Livro das tres vertudes has socorrer.^[14]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses it with Latin subvenio and auxilior.^[15]
• 1611 – Barbosa quotes Virgil's miseris succurrere disco.^[16]
• 1813 – Morais records the reflexive socorrer-se.^[11]
• 20th century – first record of socorrista.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To help someone in danger; to rescue: os bombeiros socorreram os feridos da estrada.^[3][6][1]
2. (transitive) To aid, protect or defend; to give medicine or relief to.^[12][17][6]
3. (transitive) To give alms to the poor.^[12][6]
4. (reflexive, with de or a) To turn to someone for help; to make use of a means: socorreu-se de um empréstimo.^[3][18][19]
5. (Bahia) To supply another person's boat with what it needs for whaling.^[3][12]

Word family

• socorro
• socorrista
• socorrimento
• socorredor

Related words

• correr
• acorrer
• Latin succurrō
• Spanish socorrer

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. socorrer
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. socorrer
4. ^ a b c d e f g Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. socorrer
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. socorrer
6. ^ a b c d 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. socorrer
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. succurrere
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. secourir
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. succurrō
10. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. socorrer
11. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 713
12. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. socorrer
13. ^ Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. socorrer
14. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. socorrer
15. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. socorrer
16. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. socorrer
17. ^ 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. socorrer
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. socorrer
19. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8585