amargo

Forms

amargo (feminine amarga, masculine plural amargos, feminine plural amargas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *amaricus (“bitter”), a form of the Latin of Hispania built on amārus (“bitter”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Machado notes that Spanish amargo and Catalan amarg (also amarch) make it unlikely that the adjective is a back-formation from the verb amargar.^[4]

Others see the adjective as the older Old Galician-Portuguese amaro, from the Latin adjective directly, reshaped under the influence of the verb.^[1][7] Meyer-Lübke derived it from the verb.^[8] Corominas gives the same account for Spanish, taking the verb from amāricō, a word of the Itala and the Christian writers.^[7][9]

Beside Galician amargo, other Romance languages kept the simple word: Italian amaro, French amer, Romanian amar.^[8][10][1] The origin of the Latin adjective is not settled: de Vaan finds the comparison with Sanskrit अम्ल (amlá, “sour”) and Germanic words for “sour” more convincing than the one with Ancient Greek ὠμός (ōmós, “raw”), and sets up Proto-Indo-European *h₂em-ro-; the Latin suffix -ārus would then be a replacement.^[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's first record is in the Cantigas de Santa Maria of the 13th century: non de vida saborosa / mas amarga, “not of a pleasant life but a bitter one”.^[12][7] Houaiss and Cunha also date the adjective to the 13th century.^[2][3] Machado's first quotation was only of the 16th century, from the Memorial: Alternando o doce e o amargo, “alternating the sweet and the bitter”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense “painful, grievous” is already the one of the first record.^[12] Bluteau defined the word through what pains and afflicts the soul, quoting Vieira's “the chalice of absence was much more bitter for his heart”.^[13] Morais (1789) put the literal sense first: of a taste like that of gall.^[14] Vieira's dictionary added “offensive, malicious”.^[15]

In southern Brazil and the Plate region the noun names the mate drunk without sugar, the chimarrão.^[2][16][5] In pharmacy the plural amargos are bitter tonics that stimulate the appetite.^[2][17]

Timeline

• 13th century – amarga in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[12]
• 13th century – first records of amargar, amargor, amargoso and amargura.^[3]
• 1513 – amargo in the Livro dos Mártires.^[18]
• 16th century – o doce e o amargo in the Memorial.^[4]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines the figurative sense.^[13]
• 1789 – Morais gives the taste of gall and the sense “painful”.^[14]
• 1871 – Vieira adds “offensive, malicious”.^[15]

Meanings

Adjective

1. bitter in taste, like gall or quinine (quinino): um chá amargo.^[2][6][1]
2. Unsweetened, with little or no sugar: tomo o café amargo.^[2][19][1]
3. (informal) Sour (azedo), acid.^[2][1]
4. (figurative) Painful, sad, grievous.^[2][6]
5. (figurative) Harsh, severe, unyielding.^[2][1]
6. (figurative) Full of grief or resentment, embittered.^[2][1]

Noun

1. A bitter taste, bitterness (amargor).^[2][17]
2. (southern Brazil) mate drunk without sugar; chimarrão.^[2][16]
3. (plural, pharmacy) Bitter medicines taken as tonics and to stimulate the appetite.^[2][17]

Word family

• amargor
• amargoso
• amargura
• amargurar
• amargoseira
• amarume
• amarugem

Related words

• amargar
• amarelo
• amaro
• Latin amarus
• Galician amargo

Usage notes

Ter amargos de boca means to suffer disappointments or vexations.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. amargo
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. amargo
4. ^ a b c d Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. amargo
5. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. amargo
6. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. amargo
7. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 233
8. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 24
9. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. amargo
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ 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 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. amargo
13. ^ 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. amargo
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, 72
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, 356
16. ^ a b Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. 1
17. ^ 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. amargo
18. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. amargo
19. ^ 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. amargo