ameaça

Forms

ameaça f (plural ameaças)^[1] The oldest form is meaça (13th century); ameaça and ameeça follow in the 14th, and the nasal amẽaça is found in the Crónica Troiana.^[2][3][4] A masculine variant ameaço appears in the 16th century.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin minācia (“threat”), with the feminine article fused to the noun: the older form is Old Galician-Portuguese meaça.^{[2][3][5][6][1]} The glossary of the Crónica Geral rejects the idea of a pre-Roman prefix, which Machado had proposed in the first edition of his dictionary and dropped in the second.^[4] Aurélio and Michaelis analyse the initial vowel as a prefix.^[7][8]

The same Latin word is Galician ameaza, Spanish amenaza, Catalan amenaça, French menace and Italian minaccia.^[9][1] Spanish too had the form without a-, Old Spanish menaza, in Berceo.^[10]

The Latin noun is a derivative of mināx (“threatening; projecting”), from minor (“to threaten”).^[2][1] Machado notes that it replaced the older minae (“threats”) in popular speech.^[5] De Vaan glosses the older noun as “threats; protruding parts of a wall”, from a Proto-Italic noun for a part that sticks out.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cunha dates meaça to the 13th century and ameaça to the 14th.^[3] The Portuguese translation of the Libro de Buen Amor has de meaças el se nom curaua nada “he cared nothing for threats”.^[5] In the Crónica Troiana a king complains that his enemies have sent word “by way of threat” (por amẽaça) that he must make amends to them.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The Miragres de Santiago pair threats with promises and entreaties (por ameaças et por promesas et por rrogos).^[4][5] The original Aulete records the plural for signs that announce something feared: ameaças de trovoada “threats of thunder”.^[12] Modern dictionaries add an intention left unfulfilled (ficou na ameaça), coercion, and in law the crime of threatening.^[2][8]

Vieira (1871) derived the noun from Latin minatio, an etymology of its time.^[13] Figueiredo (1899) already gives minacia.^[14]

Timeline

• 13th century – meaça.^[2][3]
• 14th century – ameaça and ameeça.^[2][3]
• c. 1430 – the Horto do Esposo (witness of 1390–1437).^[15]
• 16th century – the masculine ameaço.^[5]
• 1871 – Vieira derives it from Latin minatio.^[13]
• 1899 – Figueiredo gives Latin minacia.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A threat: an act, gesture or word that intimidates; a promise of punishment or harm.^[2][7][1]
2. A sign or omen of something dangerous or bad: ameaça de greve.^[2][16][1]
3. A person or thing seen as a danger; a menace.^[1]
4. An intention that goes no further than a start: ficou só na ameaça.^[2]
5. coercion: pressure put on someone: sob ameaça.^[2]
6. (law) The crime of causing someone a well-founded fear of harm.^[2][8]

Word family

• ameaçado
• ameaçador
• ameaçar

Related words

• ameaço
• minaz
• Galician ameaza

Usage notes

Viterbo records an old feudal sense: in the Portuguese translation of the foral of Tomar of 1162, ameaça is the will, shown by deeds or words, of a vassal or tenant to leave his lord for another.^[17]

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 g h i j k Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. ameaça
3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. ameaça
4. ^ a b c d 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. ameaça
5. ^ 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. ameaça
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. ameaça
7. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. ameaça
8. ^ a b c 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. ameaça
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5584
10. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 242
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. ^ 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. ameaça
13. ^ 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, 366
14. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 74
15. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. ameaça
16. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 565
17. ^ Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 111