trabalhar

Forms

trabalhar (first-person singular present trabalho, first-person singular preterite trabalhei, past participle trabalhado)^[1] Old forms: traballava in the 13th century, trauallemos and trebelhar in the 14th.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *tripāliō (“to torture”), written Old Galician-Portuguese traballar in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] The Vulgar Latin verb is derived from Late Latin tripālium, an instrument of torture, which Houaiss takes from the adjective Latin tripālis (“supported by three stakes”).^[2] Nascentes analyses the noun as trēs (“three”) and pālus (“stake”), and describes it as a frame of three stakes used to hold oxen and horses that would not let themselves be shod.^[4] García de Diego cites the form trepalium from glosses of the 6th century.^[5] Wiktionary suggests that the Latin noun may be a calque of Byzantine Greek τριπάσσαλον (tripássalon).^[1]

Cunha traces the senses from “to torture” to “to suffer”, then “to strive, struggle” and finally “to work”.^[3] Nascentes notes that the verb displaced the Latin verbs for working, and that the old idea of suffering survives in trabalho de parto “labour (in childbirth)”.^[4] Aurélio supposes an intermediate form *trebalhar.^[6] Michaelis and Wiktionary also analyse the modern verb as from Portuguese trabalho + -ar.^[7][1]

The same Vulgar Latin verb is Galician traballar, Spanish trabajar, Catalan treballar, Occitan trabalhar and French travailler.^[8][1] In Old Spanish too it meant “to suffer” and “to strive” before “to labour”.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the 13th-century cantigas the verb means “to strive, take pains”, usually pronominal with de and an infinitive: King Dinis writes of a woman que se trabalha de vosco buscar “who strives to find you”.^[11][12] Houaiss also dates to the 13th century the sense “to torment, afflict”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the 14th century Houaiss records the sense “to make or prepare with care”, and Cunha the derivatives trabalhador and trabalhoso.^[2][3] Cardoso (1569) and Pereira (1697) gloss the verb with Latin laboro, and Barbosa (1611) adds that it could also mean “to be unwell”.^[13][14][15] Morais (1789) defines it as using one's strength and wit for rural, building, mechanical or intellectual work, and as making great efforts.^[16]

Modern Portuguese adds the senses of shaping a material, tilling land, training a person or an animal, and dealing in goods.^[2][17] Brazilian usage has trabalhar de “to work as” and “to act as”, and in Umbanda the verb names ritual work.^[2]

Timeline

• 13th century – traballava; in the cantigas trabalhar-se de “to strive to”.^[2][11]
• 14th century – the forms trauallemos and trebelhar; first records of trabalhador and trabalhoso.^[2][3]
• c. 1430 – the verb in the Horto do Esposo (witness 1391–1450).^[18]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses it with Latin laboro.^[13]
• 1611 – Barbosa adds the sense “to be unwell”.^[15]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau reports the opinion that the verb comes from the old trebelhar or from Old Spanish trevejar.^[19]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as using strength and wit for any work.^[16]
• 1899 – Houaiss's first date for the pronominal “to show effort”.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To work, to have a job or occupation: O meu irmão trabalha num banco.^[2][20][1]
2. To strive, make an effort to do or achieve something.^[2][6]
3. To be working, in operation (of a machine or mechanism).^[2]
4. To shape or work a material: trabalhar a pedra.^[2][17]
5. To prepare (land) for cultivation; to till.^[2][17]
6. To elaborate or polish with care: trabalhar um poema.^[2][21]
7. To train (a person, team or animal); to prepare a group for a role.^[2][21]
8. To deal or trade in: A loja trabalha com móveis usados.^[2][21]
9. To act, perform (in a play or film).^[2]
10. (Brazil) To work as, to act as (with de or como).^[2]
11. To torment, trouble: Aquela dúvida trabalhava-o.^[2][17]
12. (of wood) To warp.^[2]

Word family

• trabalhador
• trabalheira
• trabalhismo
• trabalhista
• trabalhoso

Related words

• trabalho
• Galician traballar
• Spanish trabajar

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 h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. trabalhar
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. trabalhar
4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. trabalhar
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. *tripalium
6. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. trabalhar
7. ^ 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. trabalhar
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. *tripaliare
9. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 571
10. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. trabajar
11. ^ a b 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. trabalhar
12. ^ 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. trabalhar
13. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. trabalhar
14. ^ 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. trabalhar
15. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. trabalhar
16. ^ 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, 472
17. ^ a b c d Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. trabalhar
18. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. trabalhar
19. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. trabalhar
20. ^ 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. trabalhar
21. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 9077