ardor

Forms

ardor m (plural ardores)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ardor (“burning, heat; passion”), from ardeō (“to burn”) with the noun suffix -or.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Wiktionary takes it as inherited through the old language, while Nascentes calls it a learned word.^[1][6]

The same Latin noun is Galician ardor, Spanish ardor, Catalan ardor, French ardeur, Italian ardore and Romanian ardoare.^[7][1] The verb arder is from the same Latin root.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cunha and Houaiss date the word to the 14th century.^[3][2] The Crónica Troiana has it for the burning of fever: leuantou se lle hũ ardor dentro ẽno corpo “a burning rose up inside his body”.^[8] The same text already has the sense “passion”, in o ardor do amor “the ardour of love”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Machado quotes a 15th-century religious text on o ardor da morte perduravel “the burning of everlasting death”.^[4] The CTA corpus has the word from the Vida do Infante Josafat (witness 1431–1446) on.^[9] Morais (1813) gives the heat of fire and of the sun, the heat of the climate, and figuratively the eagerness of strong passions, anger, sensuality or love, and violent desire.^[10] Vieira and the modern dictionaries add the smart of a caustic or a wound and the sharp taste of pepper and spices.^[11][12][13] The DLP also records the heat of a fight or argument.^[13]

Timeline

• 14th century – first records, with the senses “burning heat” and “passion”.^[3][2][8]
• 1431–1446 – ardor in the Vida do Infante Josafat.^[9]
• 15th century – o ardor da morte perduravel in a religious text.^[4]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders Ardor with Latin ardor.^[14]
• 1813 – Morais lists the senses “heat”, “eagerness of passion” and “violent desire”.^[10]
• 1871 – Vieira adds the smart of a caustic and the sharpness of spices.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. Strong, intense heat: o ardor do meio-dia.^[2][12]
2. A burning sensation, as from a wound or irritation; the sharp taste of pepper and similar spices.^[2][13][1]
3. Eagerness, energy, enthusiasm: defendeu a ideia com ardor.^[2][12][1]
4. Brightness, the quality of what shines.^[2]
5. Intense love; passion, desire.^[2][15]

Word family

• ardoroso

Related words

• ardência
• ardentemente
• arder
• ardido
• ardente
• Latin ardor

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 f g h Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. ardor
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. arder
4. ^ a b c Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. ardor
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. ardor
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. ardor
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 624
8. ^ 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. ardor
9. ^ a b Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. ardor
10. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 175
11. ^ 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, 541
12. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. ardor
13. ^ 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. ardor
14. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ardor
15. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. ardor