código

Forms

código m (plural códigos)^[1] Bluteau (1712–1728) heads the word código, ou códego.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cōdex (“writing, register, book”), taken over by a half-learned route and moved into another declension.^[3][4][1] The Latin word was applied above all to the code of Justinian and then to other bodies of law.^[4][5]

The ending ⟨-o⟩ is hard to explain, since neither the nominative nor the other cases lead to it.^[5] Cunha and the DLP start from a Latin *codicum, and Aurélio, more cautiously, from the genitive plural cōdicum.^[6][7][8] Corominas, followed by Houaiss, notes that the genitive plural was rarely used in this way and suggests instead the Greek loan κώδικος (kṓdikos), the genitive used when citing a law of Justinian's code, which would have entered Romance from Byzantine Italy through the law school of Bologna.^[5][4] The same ending is in Spanish código, and Italian once had codico.^[5][9]

The Latin word was originally a variant of caudex (“tree trunk”), with the rustic ⟨ō⟩ for ⟨au⟩.^[1][9] The learned códice “manuscript” is a doublet, recorded from the 18th century.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to the 15th century and Cunha to the 16th, both with the sense “collection of laws”.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

In Bluteau's time the word named Justinian's code as a subject of study: the statutes of the University list duas cadeiras menores de Código, two minor chairs of the Code.^[2] Morais (1813) defines it as the collection of laws of a ruler, explaining that “the Code” alone means Justinian's, and names the Portuguese Código Afonsino and Manuelino.^[10] Vieira (1873) notes that the name passed by imitation to later collections of laws, and the original Aulete cites the Napoleonic code and the código penal and código civil.^[11][12] Codificar is recorded from the 19th century and codificação from 1881.^[6]

Figueiredo (1899) adds an authorised collection of medical or pharmaceutical formulas.^[13] In the 20th century the word took the senses “cipher”, “identifying number or symbol”, a system of signs in linguistics and semiotics, and a set of instructions in computing;^[4] Houaiss dates código Hollerith, the punched-card code, to 1962.^[4]

Timeline

• 15th century – first record.^[4]
• 16th century – Cunha's date for the sense “collection of laws”.^[6]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau heads it código, ou códego.^[2]
• 18th century – the learned doublet códice.^[6]
• 1813 – Morais names the Código Afonsino and Manuelino.^[10]
• 1873 – Vieira explains the extension from Justinian's code to other collections of laws.^[11]
• 1881 – first record of codificação.^[6]
• 1899 – Figueiredo adds the pharmaceutical sense.^[13]
• 1962 – código Hollerith, the punched-card code.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A code of laws: a systematic compilation of the laws on a matter or branch of law (código civil, código penal).^[4][8][1]
2. Any body of regulations for an activity.^[4][14]
3. (pharmacy) A pharmacopoeia.^[4][13]
4. A set of principles of conduct: código de honra.^[4][12]
5. A system for enciphering writing; a cipher.^[4][14]
6. A word, number or symbol that identifies an item in a classification (código postal, código de barras).^[4]
7. (computing) The symbols in which the instructions of a program are written.^[4][14]
8. (linguistics, semiotics) A system of signs by which messages are built and passed on.^[4]

Related words

• códice
• codificar
• codificação
• codicilo
• Latin codex
• Spanish código

Usage notes

Código genético is the genetic code, the triplets of nucleotides that fix the order of amino acids in a protein.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. código
3. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. código
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. código
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 117
6. ^ a b c d e f g Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. códice
7. ^ 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. código
8. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. código
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. codex
10. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 408
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. 2, 264
12. ^ 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. código
13. ^ a b c Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 310
14. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. código