caloso

Forms

caloso (feminine calosa, masculine plural calosos, feminine plural calosas, comparable, metaphonic)^[1] The first record, of 1570, is spelt calloso, and Bluteau still gives caloso, ou calloso.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin callōsus (“hard-skinned, tough”), first recorded in 1570.^[2][3] The Latin adjective is formed from callum (“hardened skin”) with the suffix -ōsus.^[5][1] Wiktionary analyses the Portuguese word as calo with the suffix -oso.^[1]

The same Latin word was taken into Galician caloso, Spanish calloso, Italian calloso and French calleux.^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss records the word in 1570, in the spelling calloso, with the basic sense “having calluses”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau's dictionary glosses the word “that has calluses” and adds the anatomical corpo caloso, a white, hard body under the division of the brain that joins its two halves, which the anatomists call corpus callosum.^[4] Morais (1789) keeps both senses, “made into a callus” and the part of the brain.^[7] Modern dictionaries extend the word to anything rough or hard like a callus and, figuratively, to what has grown hard or insensitive over time; the DLP also gives the sense “chronic, inveterate”.^[2][8][9]

Timeline

• 1570 – first record, spelt calloso.^[2][3]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau gives caloso, ou calloso and the anatomical corpo caloso.^[4]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as “made into a callus” and records corpo caloso.^[7]
• 1871 – Vieira enters caloso only as a cross-reference to calloso.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having calluses, especially many of them; callused (calejado): Tinha as mãos calosas do trabalho no campo.^{[2][11][12][1]}
2. Hard or rough in texture, like a callus.^[2][13]
3. (figurative) Grown hard, resistant or insensitive with time.^[2][9]
4. Chronic, inveterate.^[8]
5. Having or forming a rounded, harder prominence; hence (anatomy) corpo caloso, the corpus callosum that joins the two hemispheres of the brain.^[2][12][9]

Noun

1. (anatomy) The corpus callosum, short for corpo caloso.^[13]

Related words

• calo
• calosidade
• calejado
• Latin callōsus
• Spanish calloso

Usage notes

The stressed vowel is closed /o/ in the masculine singular and open /ɔ/ in the feminine and the plural (calosa, calosos).^[12][9]

The TLPGP records from a survey in Portugal the regional senses “dirty”, “old” and “broken into pieces”.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. caloso
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. caloso
4. ^ 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. caloso
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. callosus
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. callosus
7. ^ 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, 218
8. ^ 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. caloso
9. ^ a b c d 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. caloso
10. ^ 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, 55
11. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. caloso
12. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. caloso
13. ^ 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. caloso
14. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. caloso