artigo

Forms

artigo m (plural artigos)^[1] The oldest texts write artigoo (1320, 1339), artjgo, arrtigo and artijgoo; the spelling artigo appears in 1352.^[2][3][4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin articulus (“joint; limb; part, division; article (in grammar)”), a semi-learned borrowing first written Old Galician-Portuguese artigoo.^[2][3][1][6] Machado and Cunha trace the form through a stage *artigulu- to the medieval spelling.^[4][3] The same Latin word gave the popular artelho “ankle, knuckle” and, as a later learned borrowing, artículo.^[2][1]

It corresponds to Spanish artículo, Italian articolo and French article.^[7] The popular outcomes of the Latin word elsewhere are Spanish artejo “knuckle” and French orteil “toe”.^[8][9]

The Latin noun is a diminutive of artus (“joint, limb”) with the suffix -culus.^[10][1] De Vaan derives that noun from Proto-Indo-European *h₂r-tú- (“juncture, ordering”).^[11] The grammatical sense of the Latin word is a semantic loan from Ancient Greek ἄρθρον (árthron), which also meant “joint”.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Galician-Portuguese charter of 1320 speaks of “the party that does not keep the articles” (a parte que non aguardar os artigoos), the clauses of an agreement.^[5] In 1339 a Portuguese document mentions artjgoos that were given “on the part of the bishop and chapter”, and one of 1361 refers to the “thirty-third article”, in which the pope had granted the tithes.^[4][5] The first sense is thus a clause or point of a legal or official text.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The grammatical sense came with the first Portuguese grammars: Machado quotes João de Barros's Gramática of the 16th century, which says that the article is one of the parts of speech “which the Latins do not have”.^[4][3] Bluteau (1712–1728) gives both the grammatical term and a short distinct part set in a paragraph, as in laws, statutes and wills.^[12] Folqman (1755) lists artigos de huma lei, artigos da fé and entrar em artigos da morte “to be at the point of death”.^[13]

In the 19th century the word took on the newspaper sense: Figueiredo (1899) defines it as a piece in a periodical longer than a mere news item, and also as an item of merchandise.^[14] Priberam labels the commercial sense, “goods, line of goods”, a Gallicism.^[15] Brazilian Portuguese has the diminutives artiguelho and artiguete for a slight newspaper article.^[16][17]

Timeline

• 1320 – os artigoos in a Galician-Portuguese charter.^[5][2]
• 1339 – artjgoos in a Portuguese document.^[4]
• 1352 – first record of the spelling artigo.^[2]
• 16th century – the grammatical sense, in João de Barros's Gramática.^[4][3]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary translates Artigo as Latin articulus.^[18]
• 1755 – Folqman lists artigos de huma lei and artigos da fé.^[13]
• 1789 – Morais explains the grammatical article at length.^[19]
• 1899 – Figueiredo records the newspaper and commercial senses.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. (law) Each numbered division of a constitution, code, law, treaty or contract.^[2][16][1]
2. Each part of a written text that one wishes to single out; a point.^[2][16]
3. An article in a newspaper or magazine: a piece of writing longer than a simple news item.^[2][20][1]
4. A subject or topic under discussion.^[2][20]
5. An item of merchandise (mercadoria); a product for sale.^[2][16][1]
6. (grammar) The article, the determiner of the noun, either definite (o, a, os, as) or indefinite (um, uma, uns, umas).^[2][21][1]
7. (theology) In artigo de fé, an article of faith, a point of revealed doctrine.^[2][20]

Word family

• artiguete
• artiguelho

Related words

• artelho
• artículo
• articular
• articulista
• Latin articulus

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include artigo de fundo, a newspaper's leading article, giving the view of the paper or its editor, and em artigo de morte “at the point of death”.^[2][16]

Houaiss also records a rare adjective and noun artigo, first in a text of 1881, meaning “of the Artigi”, an ancient people of Baetica in southern Hispania, from Latin Artigi, the Latin name.^[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 o Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. artigo
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. artigo
4. ^ a b c d e f g Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. artigo
5. ^ 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. artigoo
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. artigo
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 47
8. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 365
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. orteil
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. articulus
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. artus
12. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. artigo
13. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. artigo
14. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 136
15. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. artigo
16. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. artigo
17. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. artiguete
18. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. artigo
19. ^ 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, 125
20. ^ 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. artigo
21. ^ 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. artigo