austeridade

Forms

austeridade f (plural austeridades)^[1] Machado notes the 16th-century spelling absteridade.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin austēritās, meaning both “sourness” and “severity”.^[3][4][2][1] Nascentes calls it a semi-learned word.^[5] The Latin noun is formed from austērus (“sour; severe”) with the suffix -tās, and the adjective is from Ancient Greek αὐστηρός (austērós, “harsh, bitter”).^[1][6]

The Portuguese adjective is austero.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Machado's 16th-century example is from Duarte Nunes de Leão's Crónica de D. Duarte: a esta natural austeridade se ajuntava ser elle solteiro, e não ter filhos “to this natural severity was added that he was unmarried and had no children”.^[2] Cunha also dates the word to the 16th century, and Houaiss to before 1600.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

In Latin the noun was first used of a sour, astringent taste.^[6][7] In Portuguese the moral sense came first;^[8] Pereira (1697) translates it with Latin words for severity.^[8] Bluteau (1712) adds the plural austeridades for mortifications of the body, and Morais (1789) defines the word first as the mortification of the senses and appetites.^[9][10] Vieira also records a technical sense in physics, the highest degree of astringency.^[11] Modern dictionaries add sobriety of decoration and, in economics, the restraint of spending, especially a government policy of reducing public expenditure.^[12][13][14]

Timeline

• 16th century – first record, in Duarte Nunes de Leão.^[2][4]
• 1697 – Pereira's Thesouro lists austeridade.^[8]
• 1712 – Bluteau has the plural austeridades “mortifications of the body”.^[9]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as the mortification of the senses and as strictness of morals.^[10]
• 1871 – Vieira records the sense in physics, “strongest astringency”.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality of being austere; severity, strictness of character, principles or discipline.^[3][15][1]
2. Strict self-denial;^[16][17] (chiefly in the plural) bodily mortifications, penance.^[16][17]
3. Plainness, absence of ornament.^[12][13]
4. (economics) Restraint of spending; austerity, a government policy of cutting public expenditure.^[12][14]

Related words

• austero
• austeramente
• Latin austeritas

Usage notes

Aurélio gives austereza as a rare synonym.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. austeridade
3. ^ a b c Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. austeridade
4. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. austero
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. austeridade
6. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. austēritas
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. austeritas
8. ^ a b c Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. austeridade
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. austeridade
10. ^ a b 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, 151
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, 664
12. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1111
13. ^ a b 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. austeridade
14. ^ 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. austeridade
15. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. austeridade
16. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. austeridade
17. ^ a b 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. austeridade