caderno

Forms

caderno m (plural cadernos)^[1] Cunha and Houaiss record quaderno in the 14th century, and the Crónica Troiana writes quaderno.^[2][3][4] Bluteau (1712–1728) gives caderno, ou quaderno.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin quaternus (“fourfold”), written Old Galician-Portuguese caderno in the oldest texts.^[3][2][1] Houaiss and Cunha explain it as the singular of the distributive quaternī (“four at a time”): the old quires were made of four sheets folded in two.^[3][2][6] Houaiss sees the word as passing through the old learned adjective quaderno (“fourfold”), and Corominas calls the Spanish word a semi-learned descendant of the same adjective.^[3][7] The distributive is formed from quater (“four times”), from quattuor (“four”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Indo-European *kʷétuores.^[1][8]

The same Latin word is Spanish cuaderno, Catalan quadern, Old Occitan cazern, French cahier and Italian quaderno.^[9][1] The French word goes back to a form influenced by quadrum (“square”), according to the DHLF.^[10] The Old Occitan feminine cazerna is the source of French caserne (“barracks”), and Portuguese has a feminine caderna for the four on a die.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

In a cantiga d'escarnho Afons' Eanes do Coton mocks a man who carries his books like a master and sab' os cadernos ben contar, that is, knows how to sing from the quires of plainchant.^[4][11] A cantiga of King Denis uses caderno for an account book, and the Crónica Troiana has outro quaderno en que ha dez follas “another quire of ten leaves”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is a quire, one of the folded gatherings that make up a book, which Houaiss now marks as obsolete.^[3] Bluteau and Morais describe a caderno as four or five sheets of paper sewn together, and in the paper trade it became a unit of five sheets, a fifth of a mão.^[5][12][13] From the quire came the notebook for notes and school exercises, the gathering of a printed book, and in Portugal the caderno de encargos, the document setting out the conditions of a contract.^[3][14][15] Tetum borrowed the word as kadernu.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records, in a cantiga d'escarnho of Afons' Eanes do Coton.^[3][2][4]
• 14th century – the spelling quaderno; first record of encadernar.^[2]
• 1361 – a dated example in a Portuguese document cited by Lorenzo.^[4]
• 1712 – Bluteau defines a caderno as four or five sheets sewn together.^[5]
• 1789 – Morais gives five sheets of paper.^[12]
• 1813 – first record of encadernador.^[2]
• 1858 – first record of caderneta.^[2]
• 1899 – Figueiredo records caderno de encargos.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A notebook, a set of blank, ruled or squared sheets bound together for notes, drawings or school exercises: Escreve o ditado no caderno de português.^[3][16][1]
2. (printing) A quire or gathering, one of the folded sections sewn together to make a book; originally a set of four folded sheets.^[3][17]
3. In the paper trade, a set of five sheets, a fifth of a mão.^[16][13]
4. A publication, often a series, on a given subject; a section of a newspaper.^[3]
5. caderno de encargos: a specification setting out the technical, legal and administrative conditions of a contract.^[15][13]

Word family

• caderneta
• encadernar
• encadernado
• encadernador
• encadernação

Related words

• quatro
• Latin quaternī
• Spanish cuaderno

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. caderno
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. caderno
4. ^ 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. caderno
5. ^ 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. caderno
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. s.v. caderno
7. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cuaderno
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6944
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. cahier
11. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. caderno
12. ^ 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, 211
13. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. caderno
14. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. caderno
15. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1633
16. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. caderno
17. ^ 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. caderno