votar

Forms

votar (first-person singular present voto, first-person singular preterite votei, past participle votado)^[1]

Etymology

Houaiss takes it as borrowed from Late Latin vōtō (“to vow”), a frequentative of voveō (“to vow, promise; to dedicate”).^[2] Cunha, who marks the Latin verb as unrecorded, dates the Portuguese one to the 16th century, and Nascentes and Aurélio also derive it from Latin.^[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary puts the Latin verb in Late Latin, a verb formed from vōtum (“a vow”).^[1] Wiktionary, the DLP and Porto Editora treat the word instead as formed in Portuguese, from Portuguese voto + -ar.^[1][6][7]

Cunha adds that in the electoral sense the verb follows French voter.^[3] Vieira derived it from the French vouer (“to vow”), which is the French outcome of the Latin verb, as Italian votare is the Italian.^[8][9] Spanish votar has the same Latin source.^[10]

The Latin noun is the past participle of the verb.^[11] The Latin noun also lives on in the popular bodo (“feast”).^[12] Its plural gave Spanish boda (“wedding”).^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cardoso's Portuguese–Latin dictionary of 1569 explains votar as “to give one's voice”, Latin suffragor, the sense of voting.^[14] Houaiss's first date, 1676, is later.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712–1728) and Folqman (1755) give only the sense of casting one's vote, with Cicero's phrases for voting for a candidate.^[15][16] Morais (1789) adds “to make a vow” and the reflexive votar-se à pátria “to offer oneself, sacrifice oneself for one's country”.^[17] Cunha distinguishes the original sense, to promise solemnly, from the later one, to approve or elect by vote.^[3]

Modern dictionaries list the electoral and parliamentary senses first, then the religious ones, vowing chastity or consecrating someone to a saint, and the senses “to devote one's time or money to” and votar-se “to expose oneself to danger”.^[2][5][18] The noun votação “a vote, voting” is recorded from 1836, and Cunha takes it as an adaptation of the French votation.^[3]

Timeline

• 1569 – Cardoso lists votar “to give one's voice”.^[14]
• 1648 – votar in a private letter.^[19]
• 1676 – Houaiss's first date.^[2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines it as giving one's vote or suffrage.^[15]
• 1789 – Morais adds “to make a vow” and votar-se à pátria.^[17]
• 1836 – first record of votação.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To put something to a vote: A câmara votou a proposta e rejeitou-a.^[2][5]
2. To approve or decide by vote.^[2][5]
3. To choose or elect someone by vote;^[2][1] (intransitive, with em) to vote for someone.^[2][1]
4. (intransitive) To have the right to vote; to cast one's vote in an election.^[2][18]
5. To promise solemnly, to vow: votar castidade.^[2][5]
6. To offer or consecrate to God or a saint by a vow;^[2][7] (reflexive) to devote oneself.^[2][7]
7. To devote time, money or effort to an end; to show a feeling towards someone.^[2]
8. (reflexive) To expose oneself to risk or danger.^[2]

Word family

• votação
• votante
• votado

Related words

• voto
• votivo
• bodo
• Latin voveō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. votar
3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. voto
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. votar
5. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. votar
6. ^ 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. votar
7. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 9581
8. ^ 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, 1006
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9456
10. ^ 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. votar
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. vōtum
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9458
13. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 608
14. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. votar
15. ^ 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. votar
16. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. votar
17. ^ 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, 536
18. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. votar
19. ^ 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. votar