unir

Forms

unir (first-person singular present uno, first-person singular preterite uni, past participle unido)^[1] The 15th-century spelling was unyr.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ūniō (“to unite, to join into one”), a learned word.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin verb is rare and post-Augustan, used by Seneca and Apuleius; it was formed from ūnus (“one”).^[5][6] The numeral goes back to Proto-Italic *oinos and Proto-Indo-European *óynos (“one, single”), and its old diphthong is still written in the epitaph of the Scipios.^[7][1]

The same Latin verb was taken as Spanish unir, Catalan unir, French unir and Italian unire, with an Old French onir.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is from 1439, in Lorenzo's material, spelt unyr; the participle unidas is also recorded in the 15th century.^[2] Cunha too dates the verb to the 15th century, a century after the noun união.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa (1611) glosses it “to put together” and notes that unir beneficios, the merging of church benefices, uses a Latin unio of canon law that he calls “not Latin”.^[9] Bluteau (1712) defines it as making one thing of two or more, in the natural or the moral sense, with examples of political alliance.^[10] Vieira (1871) adds the sense of a river or road that links two places, and the binding of people by affection.^[11] Joining in marriage and the chemical sense “to combine” appear in the modern dictionaries.^[12][13]

Timeline

• 1300s – first record of the noun união, spelt huniam.^[3]
• 1439 – first record of unir, spelt unyr.^[2]
• 1500s – first record of reunir.^[3]
• 1611 – Barbosa's dictionary lists unir.^[9]
• 1813 – first records of desunir and desunião.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make into one, to unify: Decidiram unir as duas escolas.^[2][13][1]
2. To join, to fasten together; to make stick: unir as peças com cola.^[2][13][1]
3. To connect, to link two places: Uma ponte une as duas margens.^[13][14]
4. To bring people together, by friendship, love or common interest; to reconcile.^[13][15]
5. To join in marriage.^[13][12]
6. To combine, to have at the same time: unir a força à inteligência.^[15][16]
7. (reflexive) To join together, to unite;^[12][1] (chemistry) to combine.^[12][1]

Word family

• reunir
• desunir

Related words

• união
• unido
• um
• Latin ūnus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. unir
3. ^ a b c d e f Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. união
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. unir
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. unio
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. unio
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. unus
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. unire
9. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. unir
10. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. unir
11. ^ 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, 860
12. ^ a b c d Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. unir
13. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. unir
14. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 9316
15. ^ 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. unir
16. ^ 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. unir