baixo

Forms

baixo (feminine baixa, masculine plural baixos, feminine plural baixas)^[1] The medieval spellings were baixo and bayxo;^[2][3][4] baxo appears from the 15th century and is still the headword of Vieira's dictionary in 1871.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin bassus (“stout, low”), written Old Galician-Portuguese baixo and Old Galician-Portuguese bayxo in the oldest texts.^[2][5][3][1] The Latin adjective is known only from glosses and as a personal name: the St Gall glosses of the 8th century explain it as “fat, not tall”, and Medieval Latin has it for “stout”, “short” and “low”.^[3][6] Machado, after Ernout and Meillet, thinks it may be of Oscan origin, like the family names Bassus and Bassius borne by Campanians;^[3][1] Wiktionary also mentions a borrowing from Greek or from a Celtic language.^[3][1]

The same word is Galician baixo, Spanish bajo, Catalan baix, French bas and Italian basso.^[7][8][1]

The ⟨ix⟩ of the Portuguese word, like the ⟨j⟩ of the Spanish word, is not the regular outcome of Latin /ss/.^[9][10] Corominas and Aurélio explain it by the influence of the verb baixar, from Vulgar Latin *bassiare.^[9][11][12] Nascentes, after Meyer-Lübke, even derives the adjective from the verb, unless one accepts with Diez a special development of ⟨ss⟩;^[10][4] Vieira in 1871 had taken the change for a normal one.^[10][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A 13th-century Latin record of the royal inquiries already has the Romance feminine: in villa bayxa.^[3] In the Crónica Troiana the adjective means “low” in place (do lugar mais alto vijnr a agoa ao mais bayxo “the water comes from the highest place to the lowest”), “soft” of the voice, “of humble lineage”, and “on foot, dismounted”.^[13]

Semantic evolution

The figurative senses “humble, lowly” and “soft (of a voice)” are medieval.^[13] As a noun, baixo “sandbank, shoal” appears in 15th-century texts on the voyages of discovery, as in naves that were lost em huns baixos;^[3] Italian basso has the same sense in a dictionary of the navy of 1504.^[3] Houaiss dates baixos “the lower rooms of a house” to 1712.^[2] Folqman (1755) records voz baixa “a quiet voice” and estilo baixo “a plain, unelevated style”.^[14]

In music the noun names the lowest male voice and its singer, the lowest melodic line of a piece and the lowest note of a chord.^[2][15] The instrument called baixo is a shortening of contrabaixo, itself borrowed from Italian, the double bass and later the bass guitar, and by extension the person who plays it.^[16][1]

Brazilian Portuguese has the informal noun “a gaffe”, and in the north and north-east of Brazil baixo is a comfortable gait of a saddle horse; in Ceará the adjective means “incapable”.^[2][17]

Timeline

• 13th century – in villa bayxa in a Latin record of the royal inquiries.^[3]
• 13th century – Houaiss's and Cunha's date for the Portuguese word.^[2][5]
• 14th century – the spelling bayxo.^[2]
• 15th century – baixos “shoals” in an account of the voyages to Guinea; the spelling baxo.^[3][2]
• 1570 – cõtrabaixo “deepest voice”, the source of the musical noun.^[16]
• 1712 – baixos “lower rooms of a house”.^[2]
• 1755 – Folqman records voz baixa and estilo baixo.^[14]
• 1873 – contrabaixo first names the instrument.^[16][18]

Meanings

Adjective

1. short, of little height or stature: uma mulher baixa.^[2][11][1]
2. low: near the ground or a reference level; below the usual level: A maré está baixa.^[2][19][1]
3. Shallow; low-lying, at or below sea level; of a river, near its mouth.^[2][15]
4. Turned or bent towards the ground: andar de ombros baixos.^[2][11]
5. Of low social or economic standing: gente de condição baixa.^[2][19]
6. cheap, of little value or price; of poor quality.^[2][20]
7. base, mean, contemptible; vulgar, coarse: sentimentos baixos.^[2][19][1]
8. Of a sound, deep, low-pitched; or faint, hardly audible.^[2][21]
9. (Ceará) Incapable.^[2][17]

Noun

1. The lower part of something: o baixo da encosta.^[2][15]
2. A shoal, a sandbank or reef;^[2][21] (Amazonia) a mudbank uncovered at low water.^[2][21]
3. (music) The lowest male voice, and a singer with that voice; the lowest line of a composition; the lowest note of a chord.^[2][15]
4. (music) A bass: the double bass or the bass guitar; a bass player.^[1][16]
5. baixos: the ground-floor rooms or basement of a house.^[2][1]
6. (Brazil, informal) A gaffe, a tactless remark.^[2]
7. (northern and north-eastern Brazil) A comfortable gait of a saddle horse.^[2][21]

Adverb

1. Low, at a small height: As andorinhas voavam baixo.^[2][15]
2. Quietly, in a low voice; in a deep tone.^[2][15]

Word family

• abaixado
• abaixador
• abaixamento
• abaixar
• baixa
• baixada
• baixa-mar
• baixar
• baixeza
• baixio
• baixura
• rebaixamento
• rebaixar
• rebaixo
• abaixo
• debaixo
• embaixo

Related words

• contrabaixo
• Late Latin bassus
• Spanish bajo
• Italian basso

Usage notes

The adjective is often part of compound adverbs and prepositions: abaixo de, debaixo de, embaixo de.^[5] In Portugal em baixo also means “depressed, in low spirits”.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 t u v w x y z 27 28 29 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. baixo
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. baixo
4. ^ a b c d 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, 708
5. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. baixo
6. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. bassus
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. bassus
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. bassus
9. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 461
10. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 59
11. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. baixo
12. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. bajo
13. ^ a b 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. baixo
14. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. baixo
15. ^ a b c d e f 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. baixo
16. ^ a b c d Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. contrabaixo
17. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. baixo
18. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. contrabaixo
19. ^ a b c 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. baixo
20. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1214
21. ^ a b c d 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. baixo