aéreo

Forms

aéreo (feminine aérea, masculine plural aéreos, feminine plural aéreas)^[1] The first record has aerio, the form closer to Latin.^[2] Feijó in 1734 notes that both aéreo and aério are said, but recommends aéreo on the model of áureo and ígneo.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin āerius (“of the air”), from Ancient Greek ἀέριος (aérios, “of the air, high in the air”).^[4][2][1] The Latin adjective also had a rarer form āereus, which Silva Bastos, Michaelis and the DLE give as the source.^[5][6][7] Nascentes explains the ending -eo as a change of suffix after other adjectives of material.^[8] Aurélio, Priberam and Nascentes's short dictionary derive the word directly from Greek.^[9][10][11]

The same Latin word gave Galician aéreo, Spanish aéreo, Catalan aeri and Italian aereo.^[1][12]

The Greek adjective is formed on ἀήρ (aḗr, “air”) with the suffix -ιος (-ios).^[13][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cunha dates the form aerio to 1572, and Houaiss's first record of aéreo is from 1589.^[2][4] The sense is “of the air”: Morais quotes Camões on as rapinas aéreas das aves de caçar, the plundering of the birds of prey in the air.^[14]

Semantic evolution

Morais in 1789 already had the figurative sense “vain, without foundation”, said of speeches, opinions and plans.^[14] Vieira lists “light as air, vaporous” and “frivolous, absent-minded, chimerical”.^[15] With aviation came “of aircraft or flying”: the original Caldas Aulete has linha aérea, ataque aéreo and forças aéreas.^[16][4] Botany uses it for the parts of a plant above the ground or water, and informal European Portuguese for a person who is miles away.^[4][17]

Timeline

• 1572 – first record, in the form aerio.^[2]
• 1589 – Houaiss's first record of aéreo.^[4]
• 1734 – Feijó prefers aéreo to aério.^[3]
• 1789 – Morais gives the figurative sense “vain, unfounded”.^[14]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira lists the senses “light as air” and “frivolous”.^[15]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of the air or the atmosphere: espaço aéreo.^[4][18][1]
2. Living, happening or held in the air;^[4][17] (botany) growing above the ground or the water: raízes aéreas.^[4][17]
3. Of aircraft or aviation: companhia aérea, ataque aéreo.^[4][18]
4. (zoology) Of an animal: moving chiefly by flying.^[4]
5. Seen from above: fotografia aérea.^[4][16]
6. (figurative) Light as air; delicate, ethereal.^[4][19]
7. (figurative) Imaginary, unreal; without foundation.^[4][9]
8. (figurative, pejorative) absent-minded; superficial, futile.^[4][17]

Related words

• aero-
• Latin āerius

Usage notes

Houaiss and Figueiredo also list aéreo as a variant of éreo “of bronze”, from Latin aereus, a derivative of aes “bronze”.^[4][20] Houaiss does not recommend this spelling.^[4][20] Machado's dictionary has only this sense.^[21]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. aéreo
3. ^ a b Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. aéreo
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. aéreo
5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. āerius
6. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. aéreo
7. ^ 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. aéreo
8. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 10
9. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. aéreo
10. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. aéreo
11. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. aéreo
12. ^ Estraviz, Isaac Alonso, Dicionário Estraviz, https://estraviz.org, p. s.v. aéreo
13. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. ἀέριος
14. ^ a b c 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. 1, 32
15. ^ 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. 1, 184
16. ^ 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. aéreo
17. ^ a b c d Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 278
18. ^ a b Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. aéreo
19. ^ 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. aéreo
20. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. aéreo
21. ^ Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. aéreo