ter

Forms

ter (first-person singular present tenho, first-person singular preterite tive, past participle tido)^[1] Houaiss traces the infinitive from teer in the 12th century, spelt teenr in 1211, through teer, still found in the 16th century, to ter, recorded from the 14th century and fixed in the 17th.^[2] Wiktionary keeps the old spelling têr as an alternative form.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin teneō (“to hold, grasp”), written Old Galician-Portuguese tẽer and then without the nasal vowel, ⟨teer⟩, before it took its present form.^[2][1][3] The form teve of a Latin charter of 1047 is Houaiss's earliest date.^[2] Houaiss notes that the first person tenho is the regular outcome of the Latin verb and the base of the subjunctive tenha, that the perfect stem seen in that form soon became tive by metaphony, and that the old past participle teúdo survives in nouns such as conteúdo.^[2]

The same Latin verb is Galician ter, Spanish tener and Catalan tenir, and also French tenir and Italian tenere.^[4][1]

The Latin verb is from *tenēō, a stative verb from Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch, draw”), the root also of tendō (“to stretch”).^[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nascentes quotes a law of 1211: Assy querem teenr as nossas terras arrendadas “thus they want to hold our lands on lease”, where the verb still means holding land.^[6] Houaiss gives “to come into possession of, to receive” as the first sense, and dates “to own, to possess” and “to hold, keep fast” to the 13th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The great change in the history of the word was its spread into the meaning of Latin habeō (“to have”), plain possession;^[7] Corominas sees this as an innovation shared by the three Ibero-Romance languages and found also in Sardinia and parts of southern Italy, with forerunners in Late Latin authors such as Aetheria.^[7] Nascentes puts it simply: what one holds in the hand, one possesses, and so ter took the place of haver.^[3][6]

The medieval language also used the verb for “to wait for”, “to get on well” and “to stay, to spend (time)” in the 13th century, and for “there to be” in the 14th;^[2] Houaiss treats these as obsolete.^[2] The last, impersonal tem “there is”, is today the informal Brazilian usage.^[1] In 1712 Bluteau discussed the verb mainly as an auxiliary of the compound tenses.^[8]

Timeline

• 1047 – the form teve in a Latin charter.^[2]
• 12th century – the infinitive teer.^[2]
• 1211 – teenr in a law text.^[2][6]
• 13th century – the senses “to own” and “to hold fast”.^[2]
• 14th century – the form ter and the impersonal sense “there to be”.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses ter with Latin habeo.^[9]
• 1611 – Barbosa gives both habeo and teneo.^[10]
• 17th century – ter becomes the fixed form.^[2]
• 1712 – Bluteau treats ter as an auxiliary verb.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To come into possession of, to receive.^[2]
2. To have, to own, to possess; to enjoy (a right, a benefit).^[2][1]
3. To have with one, to carry: Tens uma caneta?^[2][1]
4. To hold, to keep fast;^[2][11] (reflexive) to hold oneself up, to stay.^[2][11]
5. To contain, to consist of: A casa tem quatro quartos.^[2][1]
6. To be (a certain age): Ela tem doze anos.^[2]
7. To be related to (as a relative or friend); to give birth to: Teve gémeos.^[2][1]
8. To have (a quality, a feature); to suffer from (an illness).^[2][1]
9. To show (care, patience) in acting.^[2]
10. (with por or como) To consider, to regard as.^[2][1]
11. (auxiliary, with a past participle) Used to form the compound tenses: tenho trabalhado.^[1][8]
12. (with de or que and an infinitive) To have to, must.^[1]
13. (Brazil, informal, impersonal) There to be: Tem gente lá fora.^[1]

Related words

• ater
• conter
• deter
• reter
• tenente
• tenor
• teor
• manter
• haver
• Latin teneō
• Galician ter
• Spanish tener

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include ter a ver “to have to do with”, ter por bem “to see fit” and não tem de que “you're welcome”.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. ter
3. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. ter
4. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. tenere
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 491
7. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 461
8. ^ 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. ter
9. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ter
10. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ter
11. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. ter