substanciar

Forms

substanciar (first-person singular present substancio, first-person singular preterite substanciei, past participle substanciado)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Portuguese substância + -ar, the noun with the suffix of first-conjugation verbs.^[2][3][4][1] The noun is from Latin substantia, which Houaiss glosses as “being, essence; support; nourishment; means of living”, from substō (“to stand under; hold out”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss records the participle substanciado first, in 1651, and the infinitive substanciar in a text of 1668–1705; his first sense is “to give nourishing food to, to feed”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Houaiss dates the sense “to set out in substance, to summarise” to the 17th century.^[2] Feijó (1734) gives both, “to tell an event briefly” and, among physicians, “to give substance”.^[6] Morais (1789) labels the food sense medical and illustrates the other with a case set down in a written summary.^[7] Vieira adds “to invigorate, give strength”, from which comes the modern sense “to strengthen an argument”.^[8][2] Wiktionary also gives the sense “to substantiate, to support with evidence”.^[1]

Timeline

• 1651 – first record of the participle substanciado.^[2]
• 1668–1705 – first record of the infinitive.^[2]
• 1734 – Feijó defines it as telling briefly and, for physicians, giving substance.^[6]
• 1789 – Morais enters both senses.^[7]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira adds the sense “to invigorate”.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To give nourishing food to; to nourish (nutrir).^[2][3][9]
2. (transitive) To set out the essentials of; to summarise (resumir): substanciar um relatório.^[2][10][9]
3. (transitive, figurative) To make stronger or more effective; to strengthen (fortalecer): substanciar uma acusação.^[2][3]
4. (transitive) To give form or content to an idea; to substantiate.^[4][11][1]

Word family

• substanciado

Related words

• substância
• substancial
• substancioso
• consubstanciar
• Latin substantia

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. substanciar
3. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. substanciar
4. ^ 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. substanciar
5. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. substância
6. ^ 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. substanciar
7. ^ 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, 426
8. ^ 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, 615
9. ^ 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. substanciar
10. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8685
11. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. substanciar