soer

Forms

soer (no first-person singular present, no present subjunctive, third-person singular present sói, first-person singular preterite soí, past participle soído)^[1] The medieval present had soio, sol, soedes, soen, and the imperfect soía; the third person soe is an analogical form recorded after 1300.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin soleō (“to be accustomed”), written Old Galician-Portuguese soer in the oldest texts.^[4][5][1]

The same Latin verb is Galician soer, Spanish soler, Catalan soler, Italian solere and French souloir.^[6][1] The Spanish verb is recorded from the Poema de mio Cid onwards.^[7]

The origin of the Latin verb is disputed.^[8] De Vaan derives it from Proto-Indo-European *sol-eh₁- (“to occupy, inhabit”), while Walde–Hofmann and Pokorny linked it with suēscō (“to become used to”) and sodālis (“companion”).^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is common from the 13th century.^[4][5] The Cantigas de Santa Maria have quantos a soyan ante veer “all who used to see her before” and ca xe soe ela a fazer de taes “for she is wont to do such things”.^[2] It meant “to be accustomed to” and was followed by an infinitive, with or without a or de.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The verb was frequent in the medieval language.^[2] In Galician it fell out of use and was largely replaced by the Spanish soler.^[2] In Portuguese Bluteau found it little used in 1712 and met only the forms soe, soem, soendo, soia and soião.^[9] Morais and Vieira call it antiquated.^[10][11] Today it is rare and literary, and lives mainly in the phrase como sói acontecer “as usually happens”.^[4][12]

Timeline

• 1200s – first records in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[4][2]
• 1300s – the analogical present soe, spelt also ssooe.^[4][2]
• 1712 – Bluteau calls the verb little used.^[9]
• 1789 – Morais marks it as antiquated.^[10]
• 1871 – Vieira calls it antiquated.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. (rare, literary) To be accustomed to; to be in the habit of; costumar.^{[4][13][14][1]}
2. (rare) To be usual; to happen often: como sói acontecer.^[4][13][12]

Related words

• sólito
• insólito
• insolente
• Latin soleō
• Spanish soler

Usage notes

The verb is defective: it has no first person singular of the present indicative and so no present subjunctive.^[12][1] Some of its forms sound like those of other words: soem like soem from soar, and sóis like the plural of sol.^[15]

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 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. soer
3. ^ 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. soer
4. ^ a b c d e f g Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. soer
5. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. soer
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. solere
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 295
8. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ 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. soer
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, 412
11. ^ 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, 563
12. ^ 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. soer
13. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. soer
14. ^ 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. soer
15. ^ 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. soer