asexar

Galician

Alternative forms

• axexar

Etymology

From Old Galician assejar; itself either from Vulgar Latin *assediare (“to besiege”) —from Latin obsidium (“siege”)— or from Latin īnsidiārī (“to lurk, to ambush”), under the influence of the synonym aseitar —from Latin assectārī (“to escort”)—. Or alternatively, and given the absence of this word in Portuguese, from Old French assiéger (“to besiege”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aseˈʃaɾ/

Verb

1. (transitive) to skulk, to lurk, to spy, to stalk
   • 1370, Ramón Lorenzo (ed.), Crónica troiana, page 461:

     Et andaua asseiando a Éytor, hu veería jeyto ou ora pera o matar.

     He was stalking Hector, trying to find the way or opportunity to kill him

2. (intransitive) to lurk

   Á porta das venturas asexan as desgrazas

   Misfortunes lurk at the door of the fortunes

Synonyms

• agaitar, aseitar, esculcar, espiar, espreitar

Derived terms

• asexo (“spying”)

References

• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “asseia”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
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• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “asexar”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN