submergir

Forms

submergir (first-person singular present submirjo or submerjo, third-person singular present submerge, first-person singular preterite submergi, past participle submergido, short past participle submerso)^[1] The medieval form was somerger (13th and 15th centuries), with the participle somerjudos in the 14th;^[2][3][4] submergir is recorded in 1664 and sumergio in 1680.^[2][3][4] Bluteau (1712–1728), Folqman (1755) and Morais (1789) head the word sumergir and refer submergir to it.^[5][6][7]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin submergō (“to cause to sink, submerge”), recorded as Old Galician-Portuguese somerger in the 13th century.^[2][3][1] Nascentes calls it semi-learned.^[8] The same Latin verb is Italian sommergere and Old Occitan somergir,^[9] and the Spanish cognate is sumergir.^[10]

The Latin verb is sub- (“under”) with mergō (“to plunge, dip”).^[11] De Vaan traces the simple verb to Proto-Indo-European *mesg- and compares mergus (“a diving sea-bird”).^[12] The OLD compares Lithuanian mazgóti.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

In one of the Cantigas de Santa Maria (no. 5) a woman is to be taken far out to sea to be drowned: que a fezesse mui longe no mar somerger.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Vieira's dictionary (1871–1874) gives “to cover with water, put under water”, and figurative uses such as submergir os cuidados em vinho “to drown one's cares in wine” and submergir o ânimo em trabalhos “to overwhelm the spirit with troubles”.^[14] Modern dictionaries add “to disappear behind something” (of the sun behind clouds), “to absorb someone's whole attention” and “to sweep away” (of a revolution or an eruption).^[2][15]

Timeline

• 13th century – somerger in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[4][2]
• 14th century – the participle somerjudos.^[2]
• 1664 – first record of the spelling submergir.^[2]
• 1680 – sumergio.^[2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau gives submergir or sumergir, preferring the latter.^[5]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira heads the word submergir.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. To cover or be covered with water; to flood, inundar.^[2][16][1]
2. To sink completely under water; to submerge, afundar: O barco submergiu perto do cais.^[2][15][1]
3. (by extension) To disappear behind or into something.^[2][17]
4. (figurative) To take up all of someone's attention; to absorb, overwhelm.^[2][18]
5. (figurative) To sweep away, destroy (lives, property, a way of life).^[2][19]

Related words

• submerso
• imergir
• emergir
• Latin submergō

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 g h i j k l m n Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. submergir
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. submergir
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. somerger
5. ^ 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. submergir
6. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. submergir
7. ^ 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, 425
8. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. submergir
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8380
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. sumergir
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. submergō
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. mergō
14. ^ 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, 612
15. ^ 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. submergir
16. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. submergir
17. ^ 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. submergir
18. ^ 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. submergir
19. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8675