Portuguese vocabulary

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See also: Portuguese language

Since Portuguese is a Romance language, most of its lexicon comes from Latin. However, other languages that came into contact with it have also left their mark.

1 From Latin to Portuguese
2 Other influences on the lexicon of Portuguese
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] From Latin to Portuguese

Both in morphology and in syntax, Portuguese represents an organic transformation of Latin without the direct intervention of any foreign language. The sounds, grammatical forms, and syntactical types, with a few exceptions, are derived from Latin, and almost 90% of its vocabulary is still derived from the language of Rome. Some of the changes began during the Empire, others took place later. A few words remained virtually unchanged, like taberna ("tavern"), or even returned to a form close to the original, such as coxa ("thigh").

Erudite latinisms were formed in the late Middle Ages, due to the use of Church Latin by the Catholic Church, and during the Renaissance, when Classical antiquity in general, and Literary Latin in particular, enjoyed great prestige. Thus, for example, Latin AVRV, which had originated ouro ("gold") and dourado ("golden"), was re-introduced as the adjective áureo ("golden"). In the same way, LOCALE ("place"), which had evolved to lugar, was later re-introduced as the more erudite local. Many erudite Greek words and combining elements were also introduced or re-introduced in this way. Because of this, many Latin words are still familiar to Portuguese speakers.

N.B.: In the Latin examples below, we have used all-capitals so as to be in line with how the ancient language was actually written. Note also that the letter V was the vowel we know today as U, and that the C was always pronounced [k], so CENTV was originally pronounced ['kentu]. Later latinisms are marked with (L).

Palatalization of voiceless stops — the consonants [k] and [t] assimilated with the high vowels [e] and [i], and with the semivowel [j].

CENTV > [tj]ento > [ts]ento > cento (hundred)
FACERE > fa[tj]ere > fa[ts]er > fa[dz]er > fazer (to do)

A more ancient evolution was

FORTIA > for[ts]a > força (strength)

Voicing — some consonants did not disappear but rather evolved with voiceless stops becoming voiced stops and voiced stops becoming voiced fricatives in certain positions:

MVTV > mudo (dumb)
LACV > lago (lake)
FABA > fava (broadbean)
LOCVSTA > lagosta (lobster)

Assimilation — consonant clusters, especially double consonants, were simplified:

GVTTA > gota (drop)
PECCARE > pecar (to sin)

Elision — the consonants [l] and [n] of Vulgar Latin were deleted between vowels, after which either the vowels around them coalesced, or an epenthetic semivowel was introduced between them.

DOLORE > door > dor (pain); (L) doloroso (painful)
BONV > bõo > bom, (good)
ANELLV > ãelo > elo (bond); (L) anel (ring)
SALIRE > sair (to get out)
COLARE > coar
NOTVLA > nódoa (stain)

Palatalization of liquids and nasals — the consonants [l] and [n] assimilated with the semivowel [j], producing the palatals lh [ʎ] and nh [ɲ]:

MVLIER > mulher (woman)
IVNIV > junho (June)

Regressive Nasalization — before [m] or [n] which were elided, or in syllable coda, some vowels became nasal. This happened between the 6th and the 7th centuries, possibly influenced by Celtic languages previously spoken in the Iberian Peninsula. This change produced one of the most striking phonological differences between Portuguese and Spanish. The history of nasal vowels in hiatus with a previous or following vowel is complex, depending on the identity of the two vowels and the position of the stress.

1. If the vowels were near each other, they collapsed into a single vowel (nasal or oral, according to the nasality of the stressed vowel):

BONV > bõo > bom (good)
CALENTE > caẽte > quente (hot)
GANADU > gãado > gado (cattle)
LANA > lãa > lã (wool)

2. Otherwise, if the second vowel was more closed, the result was usually a nasal diphthong:

MANV > mão (hand)
CANES > cães (dogs)

3. If the second vowel was more open, or as open, nasalization was lost:

LVNA > lũa > lua (moon). Exception: VNA > ũa > uma (one)
BONA > bõa > boa (good, fem.)
PLENV > chẽo > cheio (full)

4. If the first vowel was [i], however, nasalization evolved to a palatal nasal consonant, inserted between the two vowels:

VINV > vĩo > vinho (wine)
REGINA > *ragina > raĩa > rainha (queen)

Progressive Nasalization — The spread of nasalization forward from a nasal consonant, especially [m].

MADRE > made > mae > mãe (mother)
HAC NOCTE > ãnoite > ãõte > ontem [õtẽĩ] (yesterday).

Epenthesis — the insertion of a sound to break up a combination of vowels which was difficult to pronounce:

ARENA > area > areia (sand); (L) arena (arena)
GALLINA > gal[ĩ]a > galinha (chicken)
VINO > v[ĩ]o > vinho (wine)

Examples such as the former two have been used by some authors to argue that the digraph nh was a nasal glide in medieval Portuguese, and thus its pronunciation in some dialects of Brazil and São Tomé and Príncipe is the original one^{[citation needed]}.

Dissimilation — Modification of a sound by the influence of neighbouring sounds; similar became different over time, so as to ease pronunciation.

1. Between vowels:

LOCVSTA > lagosta (lobster)
CAMPANA > campãa > campa (tomb)

2. Between consonants:

MEMORARE > nembrar > lembrar (to remember); (L) memorizar (to memorize)
ANIMA > alma (soul); (L) animado (animated)
LOCALE > logar > lugar; (L) local (place)

Metathesis — a sound change that alters the order of phonemes in a word. Semi-vowel metathesis:

PRIMARIV > primeiro (first); (L) primário (primary)

Consonant metathesis in [l] and [r]:

TENEBRAS > teevras > trevas (darkness); this was rare in Portuguese; (L) tenebroso (eerie)

Vowel metathesis:

GENUCULUM > genoclo > gẽo[lj]o > joelho (knee)

[edit] Other influences on the lexicon of Portuguese

[edit] Pre-Roman languages of Iberia

Very few traces of the languages of the native peoples of Iberia (Lusitanians, Conii, or Gallaeci), or of pre-Roman settlers like the Phoenicians, Carthaginians or Celts, persist in the language, but there are some exceptions (most are unconfirmed). Many places in Portugal have pre-Roman names, such as the cities of Braga and Coimbra and the rivers Minho and Tâmega.

Iberian:

Abóbora (pumpkin)
Bezerro (year-old calf)
Louça (claw)
Manteiga (butter)
Sapo (toad)

Celtic:

Cabana (hut) (cf. Latin capanna)
Cama (bed)
Camisa (shirt) (cf. Fr. chemise, Lat. camisia, Gr. kamision)
Carvalho (oak)
Cerveja (beer)
Touca (headress)

Phoenician:

Malha (mesh)
Mapa (map)
Saco (bag)

[edit] Germanic languages

The Germanic influence in Portuguese was small, restricted to warfare and related topics. The influence also exists in placenames such has Ermesinde and Esposende, where sinde and sende are derived from the Germanic "sinths" (military expedition).

Barão (baron) from Germanic baro
Ganhar (to win) from Germanic waidanjan
Guerra (war) from Gothic *wirro
Roubar (to rob) from Germanic raubon
Saga (saga) from Gothic saega
Aleive (treason) from Gothic lavjan
Alvergue from Gothic haribergo
Elmo from Gothic hilms
Estaca from Gothic stakka
Fona from Gothic fon
Fornir from Gothic frumjan
Godo from Gothic guthans
Guia from Gothic wida
Lasca from Gothic laska
Marta from Gothic marthus
Roca from Gothic ruka
Tampa from Gothic tappa

[edit] Arabic

Projections indicate 1000 Arabic loan words. In old Portuguese this represented 25% of the used lexicon, today its importance has decreased as the language became richer and reinfluenced by Greek, Latin and other languages.

Alcova (alcove) from alkubba
Aldeia (village) from aldaya
Alface (lettuce) from alkhass
Algarismo (number, figure) from alkarizmi
Almirante (admiral) from amir + ar-rahl
Almofada (cushion) from almukhadda
Âmbar (amber) from anbar
Armazém (warehouse; a cognate of English "magazine") from almahazan
Arroz (rice) from arruz (loan from Greek óryza)
Azeite (olive oil) from azzait
Fátima (woman's name, and name of a town in Portugal) from Fāţimah
Garrafa (bottle) from garrafā (see "caraff")
Girafa (giraffe) from zurafa
Jasmim (jasmine) from yasmin (loan from Persian jasamin)
Jarra (vase) from jarra
Xadrez (chess) from shatranj (loan from Sanskrit chaturanga)

The name of the currency of Mozambique, the metical, is derived from the word miāl, an Arabic unit of weight.

[edit] Words from African, Amerindian and Asian languages

With the Portuguese discoveries linguistic contact was made, and the Portuguese language became influenced by other languages other than European or Arabic. Many placenames and local animals have Amerindian names in Brazil, in Angola and Mozambique, the same occurring with the local Bantu languages.

African:

Banana (banana) from Wolof
Bungular (to dance like African wizards) from Kimbundu kubungula
Chimpanzé (chimpanzee) from Bantu
Cabiri (small domestic animal) from Kimbundu kabiribiri
Cafuné (caress on the head) from Kimbundu kifumate
Capoeira (Brazilian martial art) from Kikongo kipura (cf. Port. & Lat. cap)
Marimba (musical instrument) from Bantu marimba/malimba