adivinho

Forms

adivinho m (plural adivinhos, feminine adivinha, feminine plural adivinhas)^[1] Medieval texts write adeuinho and deuynho in the 13th century and adevinho in the 14th, beside adivinho.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dīvīnus (“of the gods; prophetic”) according to Houaiss, written Old Galician-Portuguese adeuinho and Old Galician-Portuguese deuynho in the oldest texts.^[2][3] Nascentes explains it as the Latin adjective used with homo (“man”) understood: “a divine man, one to whom the gods gave the gift of divination”.^[5] Machado reconstructs Vulgar Latin *addīvīnus, with the prefix ad-, and the DLP and Porto Editora follow him.^[2][6][7] Others explain the initial ⟨a-⟩ as taken over from the verb adivinhar, and Aurélio also speaks of its influence.^[2][8] Silva Bastos, Figueiredo and DELPo derive the noun from the verb itself.^[9][10][11]

The Latin word also gave French devin, Old Occitan devin and Spanish adivino, and it was borrowed into Welsh as dewin.^[12] The DHLF explains the French form by the dissimilated form Late Latin devinus.^[13]

The Latin adjective is formed from dīvus (“divine, of a god”) with the suffix -īnus, and continues Proto-Italic *deiwīnos.^[1][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's chronology antedates Machado's first record of the 15th century with the Foro Real, which forbids being nẽ adeuinho nẽ sorteyro “neither soothsayer nor sorcerer”.^[4][15] A cantiga of Gil Perez Conde has lhi dizen os devinhos / que será perdimento da terra “the soothsayers tell him that it will be the ruin of the land”.^[16] Houaiss notes that in the 13th and 14th centuries the word is found only as a noun.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Machado quotes the Inéditos de Alcobaça (15th century?) on everyone, man or woman, who “makes himself a soothsayer” by vain means.^[15] Pereira (1697) renders the word with Latin augur, vates and vaticinator.^[17] Vieira gives the synonyms adivinhador, adivinhão, bruxo and sorteleiro, and quotes João de Barros on the “astrologers and soothsayers” who promised a king great victories.^[18] Houaiss records the further sense “sorcerer”, and the adjective use “who has, or claims to have, the gift of divination”.^[2]

Timeline

• 13th century – adeuinho in the Foro Real and deuynho in a cantiga.^[4][2][3]
• 14th century – the spellings adevinho and adivinho.^[2]
• 15th century – the Inéditos de Alcobaça, Machado's first record.^[15]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses it with Latin augur and vates.^[17]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira quotes João de Barros's astrólogos e adivinhos.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. A soothsayer or fortune-teller: someone who claims, or is said, to foresee the future or reveal what is hidden; adivinhador.^[2][1][8]
2. A sorcerer; bruxo, feiticeiro.^[2][19]

Adjective

1. Having or claiming the gift of divination.^[2][6]

Related words

• adivinhar
• adivinha
• divino
• Latin divinus
• Spanish adivino

Usage notes

Adivinho is also the first person singular of the present indicative of adivinhar: eu adivinho “I guess”.^[20]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. adivinho
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. adivinhar
4. ^ a b c Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. adeuinho
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. adivinho
6. ^ 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. adivinho
7. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 251
8. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. adivinho
9. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. adivinho
10. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. adivinho
11. ^ NEHiLP – Núcleo de Apoio à Pesquisa em Etimologia e História da Língua Portuguesa, Universidade de São Paulo, DELPo: Dicionário Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa (online database), p. s.v. adivinho
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2705
13. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. devin
14. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. dīuīnus
15. ^ a b c Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. adivinho
16. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. devinho
17. ^ a b Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. adivinho
18. ^ 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, 156
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. adivinho
20. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. adivinho