absurdo

Forms

absurdo (feminine absurda, masculine plural absurdos, feminine plural absurdas, comparable, comparative mais absurdo, superlative o mais absurdo or absurdíssimo)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin absurdus (“out of tune; senseless”), a learned word.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Houaiss dates it to 1589.^[2] Cunha and Machado put the first record in the 16th century.^[2][3][4]

The same Latin word is Galician absurdo, Spanish absurdo, Catalan absurd, French absurde, Italian assurdo and Romanian absurd.^[1][6] French has it from the early 12th century, first as Old French absorde.^[7] Meyer-Lübke considers it doubtful that Spanish zurdo (“left-handed”) comes from the Latin adjective, which García de Diego accepts.^[8][9]

The Latin adjective is formed from ab- and surdus (“deaf; muted”), and first described a discordant sound.^[10][11] De Vaan explains it as “unheard of”, since “deaf” can mean both “not hearing” and “not heard”.^[11] Wiktionary connects the simple adjective with Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“ringing, whistling”), a link de Vaan finds hard to square with the meaning.^[1][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Machado quotes the 16th-century friar Heitor Pinto: He cousa absurda não alimpar o trigo do joio “it is an absurd thing not to clean the wheat of the darnel”, already in the sense “contrary to reason”.^[4] Houaiss's first date is 1589.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712–1728) and Folqman (1755) enter the noun, “an act that offends good reason”, with the phrase fazer absurdos.^[12][13] Morais (1789) has both the adjective “repugnant to reason” and the noun, and the logical demonstração por absurdo, the proof by contradiction.^[14] Vieira (1871) notes that the Latin word first meant “offending the ear” and only figuratively “offending reason”.^[15]

In the 20th century the noun took on philosophical senses: in Kierkegaard the gap between true subjectivity and rational abstraction, and in the literary and philosophical existentialism of Camus and Sartre the lack of meaning in human existence, as in the teatro do absurdo.^[2] Houaiss also records the noun for an impossible plan, a utopia.^[2][16]

Timeline

• 16th century – Machado quotes cousa absurda from Heitor Pinto.^[4]
• 1589 – Houaiss's first date.^[2]
• 17th century – first record of absurdidade.^[3]
• 1712 – Bluteau enters the noun and the phrase fazer absurdos.^[12]
• 1734 – Feijó warns against the spelling ausurdo.^[17]
• 1789 – Morais records demonstração por absurdo.^[14]
• 19th century – first record of absurdeza.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Contrary to reason (razão) and common sense; absurd, senseless.^[2][16][1]
2. (by extension) Outside the established rules and conditions.^[2][16]
3. Foolish, inept.^[2][18]
4. (philosophy) Breaking the rules of logic (lógica); self-contradictory.^[16][19]

Noun

1. Something absurd; an absurdity, a piece of nonsense: Pagar tanto por isso é um absurdo.^[2][20][1]
2. An unrealizable plan; a utopia.^[2][16]
3. (philosophy) The lack of meaning or rational justification of human existence, in existentialism.^[2][19]

Word family

• absurdeza
• absurdidade
• absurdez

Related words

• surdo
• Spanish absurdo

Usage notes

Por absurdo and redução ao absurdo are the terms of logic and mathematics for a proof by contradiction.^[19][21]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. absurdo
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. absurdo
4. ^ a b c d Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. absurdo
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. absurdo
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. absurdo
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. absurde
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 50
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. absurdus
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. absurdus
11. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ 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. absurdo
13. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. absurdo
14. ^ a b 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, 11
15. ^ 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, 44
16. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. absurdo
17. ^ 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. absurdo
18. ^ 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. absurdo
19. ^ a b c 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. absurdo
20. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. absurdo
21. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 120