virar

Forms

virar (first-person singular present viro, first-person singular preterite virei, past participle virado)^[1] Houaiss's first historical forms, both of the 15th century, are virar and uyrando.^[2]

Etymology

Houaiss, Cunha and the DLP take it as borrowed from French virer (“to turn”), recorded in French from the 12th century; if it is a loan, Houaiss thinks the French word spread by sea, as Camões's use of it (1572) suggests.^[2][3][4] The French verb goes back to Vulgar Latin *virō.^[3][5] Houaiss notes that this Vulgar Latin verb cannot by itself explain words that appear as late as the 15th century in the languages other than French.^[2]

Wiktionary makes the Portuguese verb inherited from the Vulgar Latin one, without a French step.^[1] The Latin base is disputed: Cunha and Houaiss explain the Vulgar Latin verb as Latin vibrō (“to shake, brandish”) crossed with gȳrō (“to turn round”) or vertō (“to turn”), with the influence of lībrō (“to swing a weapon”) in Houaiss's account and in the DHLF.^[2][3][5] Wiktionary makes it either the doublet of girar or of vibrar.^[1]

Nascentes and Aurélio prefer a Celtic-Latin hybrid, comparing Welsh gwyro (“to lean to one side”), and so does the DCECH, which adds Breton goara (“to bend”).^[6][7][8] Corominas held that the French verb (about 1100) and the Portuguese verb (about 1500) both come straight from the Celtic-Latin verb, and that Spanish virar, not recorded before about 1570, is a nautical term owed to French and Portuguese together.^[9][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the verb to the 15th century from the slips of Cunha's medieval index, while Cunha's dictionary gives the 17th century.^[2][3] It appears in a private letter of 1542 of the Post Scriptum corpus, and Cardoso's dictionary of 1569 renders it by Latin flecto and verto “to bend, to turn”.^[10][11]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712) defines it as moving a thing so that it lies the other way, and gives virar as costas “to turn one's back, to flee”.^[12] Morais (1789) adds turning inside out, changing direction and opinion, virar a casaca “to change sides” and virar-se o miolo “to lose one's mind”.^[13] Sailors used it for tacking, virar de bordo and virar por d'avante.^[2]

In Brazil the verb is a common copula, “to become, to turn into” (a água virou gelo), and virar-se means “to manage, to get by”; it also means to stay up all night.^[2][1] In Portuguese dialects it names farm tasks such as turning cheeses for salting.^[14]

Timeline

• c. 1155 – French virer.^[5]
• 15th century – Houaiss's first date, with the forms virar and uyrando.^[2]
• 1542 – viram in a private letter of the Post Scriptum corpus.^[10]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders virar by Latin flecto and verto.^[11]
• 1572 – Camões uses the verb as a nautical term.^[2]
• 1712 – Bluteau gives virar as costas.^[12]
• 1789 – Morais gives virar a casaca.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. To turn: to put or move into another direction or position: virou a cara para a janela.^[2][1]
2. To change direction; to turn a corner: vira à esquerda depois da ponte.^[2][1]
3. To turn over or upside down; to turn inside out: vira as panquecas.^[2][7]
4. To capsize or overturn (of a boat or vehicle).^[2][1]
5. To change one's opinion or side; to turn against someone.^[2][1]
6. To pour out; to drink up at one go.^[2][1]
7. To change (of the weather).^[2]
8. (chiefly Brazil) To become, to turn into: o sonho virou realidade.^[2][1]
9. (reflexive) To manage, to get by; to make an effort.^[2][1]
10. (nautical) To tack, in virar de bordo.^[2]

Word family

• desvirar
• revirar
• reviravolta
• viração
• virado
• viravolta
• vira-casaca

Related words

• girar
• vibrar
• French virer
• Spanish virar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. virar
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. virar
4. ^ 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. virar
5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. virer
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. virar
7. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. virar
8. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 825
9. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. virar
10. ^ a b 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. virar
11. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. virar
12. ^ 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. virar
13. ^ 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, 528
14. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. virar