adeus

Forms

adeus^[1] Bluteau (1712) heads the word adeos and refers adeus to it;^[2][3][4] Morais (1789) refers adeos to deos.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from Portuguese a + deus, “to God”, the last words of farewell phrases meaning “I hand you over to God” or “I commend you to God”.^[5][6][7][8] Wiktionary instead calls it a learned borrowing from Medieval Latin ad Deum (“to God”).^[1]

The other Romance languages have the same farewell: Galician adeus, Spanish adiós, Catalan adeu, French adieu and Italian addio.^[1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates both the noun and the interjection to about 1538.^[5] Cunha dates the word to the 16th century, and in the Post Scriptum letters it first appears in 1570.^[6][10] Machado illustrates the full phrase from which it was shortened with Sá de Miranda's Deixote a Deus “I leave you to God”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau describes adeos as the word Christian courtesy uses on parting, and renders it by Latin vale.^[3] Vieira lists proverbial uses, among them adeus, cestos, estão feitas as vindimas “goodbye, baskets, the grape harvest is done”, said of things no longer needed.^[12]

As an interjection it says goodbye, usually before a long parting, but it is also a greeting between people who meet or pass each other; it also mourns something lost (adeus, juventude) and expresses disappointment.^[5][8] As a noun it is a farewell and, by extension, a parting;^[1] dizer adeus a is to give something up, and adeus de mão fechada is a Brazilian informal name for a threatening gesture.^[5] Papiamentu has ayó from it.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1538 – Houaiss's first date for the noun and the interjection.^[5]
• 16th century – Cunha's first date.^[6]
• 1570 – adeus in a private letter of the Post Scriptum corpus.^[10]
• 1712 – Bluteau heads the word adeos.^[3]
• 1871 – Vieira lists the proverb adeus, cestos, estão feitas as vindimas.^[12]

Meanings

Interjection

1. goodbye: said when parting, especially before a long or final separation.^[5][13][1]
2. A greeting to someone one meets or passes in the street.^[5][8]
3. Expresses regret or longing for something lost: adeus, férias!^[5][13]

Noun

1. A farewell: a word or gesture of parting: acenou-lhe um adeus da janela.^[5][8]
2. A parting; despedida.^[5][8]

Word family

• adeusinho

Related words

• deus
• Spanish adiós
• French adieu

Usage notes

Dizer adeus a is to give something up for good, and dizer adeus ao mundo is a euphemism for dying.^[5] The jocular adeus, minhas encomendas laments a loss.^[5][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. adeus
3. ^ a b c d Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. adeos
4. ^ 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, 26
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. adeus
6. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. deus
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. adeus
8. ^ a b c d e 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. adeus
9. ^ Estraviz, Isaac Alonso, Dicionário Estraviz, https://estraviz.org, p. s.v. adeus
10. ^ a b CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. adeus
11. ^ Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. adeus
12. ^ 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, 152
13. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. adeus