Interpretando as lexias Adebdar e Adebdamentos no antigo português aljamiado do século XV

Abstract

It is proposed an interpretation of adebdamentos and adebdar, terms found in an astrological guide in aljamiado Old Portuguese, from the first half of the 15th century. The manuscript is entitled De magia (Ms. Laud Or. 282, Bodleian Library). Although there is no doubt as to the language of the codex, there are indications that it is a translation from Catalan or Spanish into Portuguese, which could explain such an expressive occurrence of adebdar and adebdamento, so unusual in other texts in Portuguese from the same time. The verb adebdar is one of the most frequent lexemes of the manuscript, used in many forms: adebdaron, adebda, adebdan, adebdaron, adeßdan, adeßda, adeßdaran, adevida. Sometimes followed by the preposition sobre, adebdar describes the action of planets and zodiac signs on people, events and objects. The noun adebdamento is, in turn, under the forms adebdamentos, adebidamentos, adeßdamentos and adevidamentos. The hypothesis that guides this work is that adebdar would be related with Spanish adeudar, which can mean contracting a debt, making someone liable for a debt or favor and show kinship, common origin or affinity, among others. The meanings of the terms in De magia, however, seem to have been changed, justifying thus a detailed description and a grammatical analysis of the two words. This work may shed light to the study of Jewish manuscripts, for lexicography and lexicology and the history of the lexicon of Portuguese and Judeo-Portuguese.