Vulgata

Forms

Vulgata f^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin Vulgata, short for a Latin phrase meaning “the edition made public”.^[2][3][1][4] The name is the feminine of vulgātus (“spread abroad, common; published”), with ēditiō (“edition”) understood; the participle belongs to vulgō (“to make public, make known”).^[2][3][1][5] Nascentes, after the Century Dictionary, glosses it “the edition or version spread among the people”.^[4] The same name is French vulgate and Spanish Vulgata.^[1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the first record to 1625.^[2] Bluteau's definition is the first in a dictionary: the Latin translation of Scripture, of uncertain authorship, that the Catholic Church accepts as canonical, to which one turns in a doubtful passage before the Septuagint or Saint Jerome.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In Medieval Latin vulgata could also name the Septuagint itself.^[8] Morais in 1813 defines the word simply as the Latin Bible approved by the Church, and Vieira in the 1870s says that it is thought to have been made from the Hebrew at the end of the 4th century and the beginning of the 5th, that the Council of Trent authorised it, and that it is also used as an adjective, a versão vulgata.^[9][10] The modern dictionaries add a sense from philology: the most widespread version of any text, taken as the standard.^[2][3][11]

Timeline

• 1625 – first record.^[2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines the word.^[7]
• 1789 – Morais lists it.^[12]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira derives it from Latin vulgatus.^[10]

Meanings

Proper noun

1. The Vulgate, the Latin translation of the Bible (Bíblia) made in the 4th century, largely by Saint Jerome, and declared the official version of the Catholic Church by the Council of Trent.^{[2][3][13][1]}
2. (philology, usually lowercase) The most widespread version of a text, or the one taken as the standard.^[2][3][11]

Related words

• vulgo
• vulgar
• divulgar
• Latin vulgātus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. vulgata
3. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. vulgata
4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1952), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 2: Nomes próprios, Rio de Janeiro, p. s.v. vulgata
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. vulgatus
6. ^ 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. vulgata
7. ^ 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. vulgata
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. vulgata
9. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 867
10. ^ a b 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, 1011
11. ^ a b Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. vulgata
12. ^ 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, 537
13. ^ Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. vulgata