todavia

Etymology

It is a compound from Portuguese todo (“all”) + via (“way”), the phrase meaning “all the way” fused into one word.^[2][3][4] Nascentes explains the fusion by how often the phrase was used.^[5] Wiktionary traces it to a phrase made of Latin tōtus (“all, whole”) and via (“way”).^[1]

Nascentes describes three stages of meaning: first “along the whole way, completely”, then “always, constantly”, and finally the adversative “nevertheless”.^[5] The same development is seen in Spanish todavía, in Italian tuttavia, and in Old French totesvoies, later replaced by French toutefois.^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Cantigas de Santa Maria and the troubadour songs (13th century) it is an adverb, “always, in every way”: teus / somos todavia “we are yours forever”.^[6][7] The glossary of the Cancioneiro da Ajuda finds this original sense in most of its uses there.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The same glossary sees the modern meaning “nevertheless, still” beginning in a few lines of the Cancioneiro da Ajuda and in many passages of the Graal.^[6] The Crónica Troiana still uses it for “always”: el dizia toda via que nõ “he kept saying no”.^[6] In the 16th and 17th centuries it could still mean “still, all the same”, and Morais quotes se a vontade de V. Alteza for todavia a que tem mostrado “if Your Highness's will is still what it has shown”.^[8] Bluteau glosses it com tudo, ainda assim “nonetheless”, with Latin nihilominus and tamen, and today it is a conjunction of contrast, chiefly in written language.^[9][2][1]

Timeline

• 13th century – todavia “always” in the Cantigas de Santa Maria and the Cancioneiro da Ajuda.^[6][2][3]
• 14th century – the spellings todavia and todauja.^[2]
• 1496 – todavia in the História de mui nobre Vespasiano.^[10]
• 1504 – todavya in a private letter.^[11]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses it with Latin nihilominus.^[12]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines it as com tudo, ainda assim.^[9]
• 1789 – Morais gives it the senses “nonetheless” and “still”.^[13]

Meanings

Conjunction

1. (formal) nevertheless, however, contudo, porém: introduces a contrast with what was said before: Estudou muito, todavia não passou no exame.^[2][14][1]

Related words

• todo
• via
• contudo
• Spanish todavía
• Italian tuttavia

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. todavia
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. todavia
4. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. todavia
5. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. todavia
6. ^ a b c d e 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. todavia
7. ^ Lopes, Graça Videira; Ferreira, Manuel Pedro et al. (2011–), Cantigas Medievais Galego-Portuguesas [online database], Lisboa: Instituto de Estudos Medievais, FCSH/NOVA, https://cantigas.fcsh.unl.pt, p. s.v. todavia
8. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 780
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. todavia
10. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. todavia
11. ^ CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. todavia
12. ^ Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. todavia
13. ^ 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, 463
14. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. todavia