aventura

Forms

aventura f (plural aventuras)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese also wrote aventuyra and aventuira in the 13th century, and uenturya in the 14th;^[2][3][4] avemtuira is still recorded in the 15th.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Old French aventure (“what is to happen to someone”), the view of Houaiss, Cunha, Machado and the Porto dictionary.^[3][2][4][5] The French word is from Vulgar Latin *adventūra, the neuter plural of adventūrus, future participle of adveniō (“to arrive, come to; to happen”), taken as a feminine singular noun.^[3][6][1] Wiktionary, Nascentes and the DLP derive the Portuguese word directly from the Vulgar Latin noun, Nascentes as a semi-learned word.^[1][7][8] Nascentes also reports that Meyer-Lübke took the Portuguese and Spanish words from Catalan aventura.^[9] The Latin noun was in turn borrowed back from Romance into the Medieval Latin of the 13th century.^[1]

The same word is Galician aventura, Spanish aventura, Italian avventura and French aventure.^[1][9] The Latin verb itself gave advir and avir.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 13th century.^[3][2] The Cantigas de Santa Maria use it for an unexpected and wonderful happening: tal aventura ll'avẽo, que en sonnos lle disseron “such a thing befell him that in his dreams he was told”.^[11] The Historia Troiana has both “adventure, journey of risk” and “event, chance”: senõ por hũa aventura que lles acaeçeu “but for a chance that befell them”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The medieval senses were “chance, fortune” and “an event, especially a strange one”;^[11] a vosa aventura meant “at your risk” in a Galician document from Rianjo.^[11] A 14th-century text quoted by Machado has pensou muito nas aventuiras que lhe aveeram “he thought much about the adventures that had befallen him”.^[4] Barbosa (1611) still glosses it by Latin fortuna and alea, noting that some say ventura.^[12] Morais (1789) defines it as “risk, danger”; in 1813 he adds a warlike action of risk, in the phrases of knight-errantry.^[13][14] Figueiredo (1899) lists the feat of arms of the knights-errant beside “what happens unexpectedly” and “chance”.^[15]

Modern dictionaries put first an undertaking of uncertain outcome and add a passing love affair.^[3][16][5]

Timeline

• 1200s – first records, in the Cantigas de Santa Maria and with the spellings aventuyra and aventuira.^[2][11]
• 1300s – aventuiras “adventures” in a text quoted by Machado.^[4]
• 1611 – Barbosa glosses it by Latin fortuna.^[12]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as “risk, danger”.^[13]
• 1813 – Morais adds the warlike adventure of the knights-errant.^[14]
• 1871 – Vieira, after Bescherelle, derives the word from a supposed Celtic avantur.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. An unexpected incident or turn of events; a strange happening.^[3][18]
2. A risky undertaking whose outcome is uncertain; an adventure: Atravessar o deserto sozinho foi uma aventura.^[3][16][1]
3. Chance, fortune; the circumstances that decide an outcome.^[3][5]
4. A passing love affair.^[3][5]
5. A feat of a knight-errant.^[3][15]

Word family

• aventurar
• aventureiro

Related words

• ventura
• advir
• Spanish aventura

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 Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. ventura
3. ^ 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. aventura
4. ^ a b c d e Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. aventura
5. ^ a b c d Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1148
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. aventure
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. aventura
8. ^ 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. aventura
9. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 54
10. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. advenire
11. ^ a b c d e 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. aventura
12. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. aventura
13. ^ 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, 147
14. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 239
15. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 157
16. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. aventura
17. ^ 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, 675
18. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. aventura