adorável

Forms

adorável m or f (plural adoráveis)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin adōrābilis (“worthy of worship”), a learned word.^[2][3][4][1] By surface analysis it is adorar with the suffix -ável.^[1] Cunha dates it to the 16th century, Houaiss to 1619.^[3][2]

The Latin adjective is formed from adōrō (“to plead with, pray to”) and -bilis, and the verb from ad- and ōrō (“to pray to, beseech”).^[5][6][7] The further origin of the verb is uncertain: if Oscan urust is a cognate, it goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- (“to pronounce a ritual”), with Ancient Greek ἀρά (ará, “prayer”).^[8]

The same Latin word gave Spanish adorable, Catalan adorable, French adorable, Italian adorabile and Romanian adorabil.^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Machado's first record is a 16th-century sermon of Frei João de Ceita, in which something fica por visível adoravel “becomes adorable by being visible”, in the religious sense.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau in 1712 defines the word as “deserving to be adored, like God”, and also “owed great honour and respect”.^[10] Morais in 1789 still has only “that deserves to be adored”.^[11] By 1871 Vieira finds it used almost only figuratively, of a person worthy of great esteem, and the old Aulete explains it as an exaggeration for anything loved very much.^[12][13] Today “charming, delightful” is the common sense.^[14][15]

Timeline

• 1500s – adoravel in the sermons of Frei João de Ceita.^[4]
• 1619 – Houaiss's first date.^[2]
• 1712 – Bluteau defines it as worthy of the worship due to God.^[10]
• 1789 – Morais: “that deserves to be adored”.^[11]
• 1871 – Vieira notes that it is used almost only figuratively.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Worthy of worship (adoração), of veneration.^[2][15][1]
2. adorable, charming, delightful: um bebé adorável.^[2][14][1]

Related words

• adorar
• adoração
• Spanish adorable

Usage notes

Vieira and Aulete point out that the plural adoráveis is spelt like the second person plural of the imperfect of adorar, (vós) adoráveis.^[12][13]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. adorável
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. adorar
4. ^ a b c Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. adorável
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. adōrābilis
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. adōrō
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. ōrō
8. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. oro
9. ^ 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. adorable
10. ^ 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. adorável
11. ^ 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, 29
12. ^ a b c 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, 168
13. ^ 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. adorável
14. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. adorável
15. ^ 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. adorável