usurpação

Forms

usurpação f (plural usurpações)^[1] Houaiss's 15th-century record is spelt usurpaçõ.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin usurpatio (“use; misuse; interruption of usucapion”), a learned word.^[2][1][3][4] Nascentes calls it semi-learned.^[5] Within Portuguese it can be analysed as usurpar with the suffix -ção, and the verb is of the same 15th-century date.^[1][6][7] The Latin noun is formed from usurpo (“to use; to seize”) with the suffix -tio, and the OLD explains the verb as a compound *usuripo of usus (“use”) and rapio (“to seize”).^[1][8]

The same Latin word was borrowed as Spanish usurpación, Galician usurpación, Catalan usurpació, French usurpation, Italian usurpazione and Romanian uzurpație.^[1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to the 15th century, from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese, in the spelling usurpaçõ.^[2] Cunha himself first records it only in 1808.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Latin the word meant first a taking into use, and in Roman law the taking possession of property without a strict legal claim, especially so as to interrupt another's acquisition of it by long use (usucapion).^[10][11][12] Portuguese took the word in the sense of seizing what belongs to another, and Morais (1813) and Vieira (1871–1874) define it simply as the act of usurping.^[13][3] The old Aulete adds the political sense, the usurping of sovereign power.^[14] Modern law uses it for the crime of unlawfully taking things, titles, office or authority, and for the violent occupation of another's land.^[2][4][15]

Timeline

• 15th century – usurpaçõ, and the verb usurpar.^[2][7]
• 1808 – Cunha's first record of usurpação.^[6]
• 1813 – Morais defines it as the act of usurping, beside usurpador.^[13]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira derives it from Latin usurpatio.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. usurpation: the act or effect of usurping (usurpar), of taking by force or without right what belongs to another.^[2][1][16]
2. The possession of a thing usurped.^[2][17]
3. (politics) The seizing of sovereign power by illegitimate means.^[4][14]
4. (law) The crime of unlawfully seizing things, property, titles, status or authority; the occupation or invasion of another's real property by violence or serious threat.^[2][4][15]

Related words

• usurpar
• usurpador
• uso
• Latin usurpatio

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. usurpação
3. ^ a b c 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, 865
4. ^ a b c d 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. usurpação
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. usurpação
6. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. usurpar
7. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. usurpar
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. ūsurpō
9. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. usurpación
10. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. usurpatio
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. ūsurpātiō
12. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. s.v. usurpatio
13. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 822
14. ^ a b 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. usurpação
15. ^ 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. usurpação
16. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. usurpação
17. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 9346