vogar

Forms

vogar (first-person singular present vogo, first-person singular preterite voguei, past participle vogado)^[1] The 15th-century texts write vogar and uogar.^[2]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed: Houaiss takes it as borrowed from Italian vogare (“to row”) or from Old Occitan vogar, both of obscure origin.^[2] Cunha and Aurélio name the same two sources, and Cunha derives them from Latin vocō (“to call”).^[3][4] Wiktionary and Porto Editora take it from Catalan vogar.^[1][5]

The same verb is Spanish bogar.^[1][6] Italian has it in the Medieval Latin of Genoa in 1214 and in the late 13th century.^[7] Corominas notes that the word is common to all the western Romance languages but seems to come from the Mediterranean, and that Sicilian vucari of Sicily and southern Italy supports the derivation from the Latin verb: the cries of the crew, or of the officer who marked the rhythm of the oars.^[8] The DLE and Nocentini give the same explanation.^[9][10]

Nascentes (1955), on the other hand, follows Diez in taking it from Middle High German wogen (“to float, surge”), and quotes Adolfo Coelho's Old High German wagōn (“to move”).^[11] Silva Bastos too names the Old High German verb.^[11][12] Meyer-Lübke considered the origin doubtful and the Latin verb impossible, as Nascentes reports.^[11] French voguer is derived by Wiktionary from Old Saxon wogōn (“to sway”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the verb to the 15th century, with the spellings vogando, uogar and vogado.^[2][3] The oldest sense is nautical: of a boat, to be driven over the water by oars or sails, and of the rowers, to row.^[2] Vieira quotes a chronicle in which ships vogarom pera alem, “rowed across”.^[13]

Semantic evolution

The derived noun voga “rowing; the stroke of the oars” is recorded from 1552.^[14] Already in Pereira (1697) and Bluteau the verb also means “to be worth, to count”: Bluteau's quotation doubts whether the old signs vogão agora, still hold now.^[15][16] Feijó (1734) gives both senses, rowing and já não voga “it is no longer valid”.^[17] Morais (1813) adds figurative senses: to be current, to be in force, to have influence.^[18]

From rowing the verb passed to sailing in general, to floating and gliding, and figuratively to news that spreads and to fashions that prevail.^[2][4] Houaiss marks the senses “to have influence” and “to be in force” as Brazilian.^[2]

Timeline

• 15th century – first records, as vogando and uogar.^[2][3]
• 1552 – first record of the noun voga.^[14]
• 1697 – Pereira records the sense “to be worth”.^[15]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau has both “to row” and “to be worth”.^[16]
• 1813 – Morais lists the figurative senses “to be current, to have influence”.^[18]
• 1836 – first record of vogante.^[19]

Meanings

Verb

1. (archaic) Of a boat, to be driven over the water by oars or sails; of rowers, to row.^[2][4]
2. To sail across; to navigate a river or sea.^[2][1]
3. To float; to drift on the surface of the water.^[2][1]
4. (figurative) To wander along streets or roads.^[2][20]
5. To move smoothly; to glide, as clouds in the wind.^[2][21]
6. (figurative) Of news, to spread; to become known.^[2][1]
7. (figurative) To be in vogue or in use.^[2][1]
8. (Brazil, figurative) To have influence; to matter.^[2]
9. (Brazil, figurative) To be in force; to prevail.^[2][1]
10. (Portugal, regional) To be worth; to matter.^[21][22]

Word family

• voga
• vogante

Related words

• Spanish bogar
• Italian vogare
• Catalan vogar

Usage notes

Old Portuguese also had vogar “to act as an advocate, to plead”: Viterbo cites a document of 1317, and Morais (1813) and Michaelis enter it as an old form of advogar.^[23][18][24] One regional glossary of Portugal derives the dialect sense “to be worth” from that verb, through “to call to one's aid” and “to have credit with someone”.^[22]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. vogar
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. vogal
4. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. vogar
5. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 9564
6. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 611
7. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli, p. s.v. vogare
8. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. bogar
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. bogar
10. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. vogare
11. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 528
12. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. vogar
13. ^ 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, 987
14. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. voga
15. ^ a b 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. vogar
16. ^ 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. vogar
17. ^ Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. vogar
18. ^ a b c Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 863
19. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. vogante
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. vogar
21. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. vogar
22. ^ a b 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. vogar
23. ^ Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 408
24. ^ 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. vogar