Os verbos “aver” e “teer” no português arcaico – breve sinopse

Abstract

This paper presents a description of structures where the verb “aver” was substituted by “teer”, and of the factors contributing to that change in the Portuguese language, highlighting: a) the original semantic content of habere e tenere in Latin; b) the use of “aver” in structures of possession, periphrases, concordance with the past participle; c) the phase of co-occurrence of “aver” and “teer”, as linguistically rival forms; d) the substitution of “aver” for “teer”, in the late fifteenth century, and the use of “aver” restricted to existential values and auxiliarity. The study of the main surviving documentation of archaic Portuguese (from the thirteenth century to the first half of the sixteenth century) allows us to observe the slow but progressive substitution of the verb “aver” with “teer”. This process culminated with the disappearance of “aver” from structures where, at the beginning of the period, it was the verb most chosen by speakers.