argumento

Forms

argumento m (plural argumentos)^[1] Medieval texts also write arguymeto (14th century), argoimento, arguimento and argomento (15th century).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a learned borrowing, borrowed from Latin argūmentum (“proof, evidence, argument”), recorded from the 14th century.^[2][4][1] Beside it, 14th- and 15th-century texts have the forms Old Galician-Portuguese arguymeto, Old Galician-Portuguese argoimento and Old Galician-Portuguese argomento.^[2][3]

The Romance languages took the same Latin word: Galician argumento, Spanish argumento, Catalan argument, French argument and Italian argomento.^[1]

The Latin noun is formed from arguō (“to show, make clear”) with the suffix -mentum.^[5][1] De Vaan takes the verb as probably a derivative of an adjective “bright”, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂erǵ-u- (“white”), the root of ἄργυρος (árguros, “silver”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Machado quotes the Corte Imperial on an argument made by “our master of the Sentences”, that is, a disputation in scholastic theology.^[3] The sense of the first records is thus a piece of reasoning brought for or against a thesis.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Cardoso (1569) and Barbosa (1611) render it simply with Latin argumentum.^[7][8] Barbosa also lists pór argumento “to put an argument”.^[8] Bluteau (1712) defines it as a reason or proof of something.^[9] Morais (1813) gives the senses of reasoning set out in speech or writing, of proof or sign, of subject matter, and of the short summary that heads a longer text, such as those of the cantos of the Lusíadas.^[10]

In the 20th century it took the senses of a story prepared for the cinema, recorded in Aurélio's first edition (1975), and of the screenplay of a film or television work.^[11][12][2] Mathematics, logic and linguistics use it for an independent variable, the angle of a complex number and a term required by a predicate.^[2] Informally it also means a heated dispute.^[2][13]

Timeline

• 14th century – first record, also spelt arguymeto.^[2]
• 15th century – argoimento and argomento.^[2][3]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary has Argumento.^[7]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists pór argumento.^[8]
• 1712 – Bluteau defines it as a reason or proof.^[9]
• 1755 – Folqman lists entrar no argumento and apertar o argumento.^[14]
• 1813 – Morais adds “subject matter” and “summary”.^[10]
• 1975 – Aurélio records the sense “story written for the cinema”.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. An argument: a line of reasoning (raciocínio) from which a conclusion is drawn, or which is meant to prove or refute a thesis: Os argumentos dela não me convenceram.^[2][15][1]
2. A proof, sign or piece of evidence for or against a fact.^[2][16]
3. A means used to persuade someone or change their mind.^[2]
4. (informal) A dispute, quarrel, altercation (altercação).^[2][13]
5. The subject or theme of a work; its plot.^[2][16][1]
6. A summary, synopsis.^[2][1]
7. (cinema, television) The written outline of a story from which a script is developed; in Portugal also the screenplay itself.^[2][12][1]
8. (linguistics) A term required by a predicate, such as the subject or object of a verb.^[2][13]
9. (mathematics) The independent variable of a function; the angle of a complex number in the Argand diagram.^[2][16]

Related words

• argumentação
• argumentador
• argumentar
• argumentativo
• arguir
• Latin argūmentum
• Spanish argumento

Usage notes

Houaiss records many Latin phrases of logic and law built with the word, such as argumento ad hominem, one that confronts an opponent with his own words or deeds, and argumento a fortiori.^[2] Morais illustrates the sense “sign, proof” with the proverb o muito riso é argumento de pouco siso “much laughter is a sign of little sense”.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. argumento
3. ^ a b c d e Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. argumento
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. argumento
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. argūmentum
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. argumento
8. ^ a b c Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. argumento
9. ^ 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. argumento
10. ^ a b c Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 178
11. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda (1975), Novo dicionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, p. 155
12. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. argumento
13. ^ 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. argumento
14. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. argumento
15. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 893
16. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. argumento