ambos

Forms

ambos m pl (feminine plural ambas)^[1] The feminine is ambas.^[1][2] Houaiss records ambus and amos beside ambos in the 13th century, and medieval texts join the article to it as ambalas, ambolos.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ambō (“both”), written Old Galician-Portuguese ambos in the oldest texts.^[2][5][4][1] Cunha calls the Latin word an old dual.^[5]

The same Latin word is Galician ambos and Spanish ambos.^[6] Medieval Castilian usually had amos, and the form with /b/ spread from Leonese with the help of the Latin word.^[7] There is also Italian ambedue.^[6]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *ambō and compares Ancient Greek ἄμφω (ámphō) and Lithuanian abù, and derives it from Proto-Indo-European *h₂(e)nt-bʰoH.^[8] Wiktionary instead connects it with *h₂m̥bʰi (“round about”), though the Latin entry notes Dunkel's view that only the first syllable belongs to that root.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Machado quotes a Latin charter of 936 with inter ambas uillas “between both villages”.^[4] In Galician-Portuguese the word is found from the 13th century; a document of 1228 has den ambos fiador “let both give a guarantor”, and the Cantigas de Santa Maria have Quando foron ambos a hũa parte “when both went to one side”.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

The medieval language often reinforced the word with the numeral: ambos e dous, ambos de dous, ambos a dous.^[3][9] Morais in 1789 calls ambos de dous a faulty phrase, while Aurélio notes that the people still use ambos de dois;^[10][11] Camões wrote De ambos de dous a fronte coroada.^[10][11] Vieira insists that ambos is used only of two who do something at the same time.^[12]

The forms with the article joined to the word, ambalas partes and in 1442 danbulos concelhos, gave way to ambos os, ambas as.^[3][4]

Timeline

• 936 – inter ambas uillas in a Latin charter.^[4]
• 1228 – den ambos fiador in a notarial document.^[3]
• 13th century – ambos, ambus and amos.^[2][5]
• 1442 – danbulos concelhos, with the article joined.^[4]
• c. 1450 – ambos in the Livro das tres vertudes.^[13]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses Ambos with Latin ambo.^[14]
• 1789 – Morais calls ambos de dous a faulty phrase.^[10]

Meanings

Determiner

1. both, the one and the other, followed by the article: ambos os irmãos, ambas as pernas.^[2][11][1]

Pronoun

1. Both, the two already mentioned: Chamei os dois e ambos vieram.^[2][15][1]

Related words

• Latin ambō
• Galician ambos

Usage notes

Ambos os dois and ambos de dois are pleonastic;^[9][16] Aulete advises avoiding them.^[9][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. ambos
3. ^ a b c d e 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. ambos
4. ^ a b c d e f Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. ambos
5. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. ambos
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 411
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 238
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c 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. ambos
10. ^ a b c 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, 73
11. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. ambos
12. ^ 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, 364
13. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. ambos
14. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ambos
15. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. ambos
16. ^ a b 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. ambos