canção

Forms

canção f (plural canções)^[1] The 17th- and 18th-century dictionaries spell it cançam and cançaõ.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cantiō (“singing, song”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cançon in the oldest texts.^[4][1][5][6]

The same Latin word is Galician canción, Spanish canción, Catalan cançó, French chanson and Italian canzone.^[7][1] Corominas considers the Spanish word a borrowing from Latin.^[8] Portuguese later borrowed the French word as chanson.^[1]

The Latin noun is formed on canō (“to sing”) with the suffix -tiō.^[1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the plural canções to the 13th century.^[4] In the cantigas a singer boasts ca eu sei canções muitas e canto ben “for I know many songs and sing well”.^[6] Houaiss's first sense is the medieval lyric poem, of high and refined style or satirical, sung by the troubadours.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Pereira (1697) glosses cançam with Latin cantio.^[2] Bluteau calls it the general name for any kind of verse to be sung, and describes the literary canção of long and short lines in stanzas.^[3] Figueiredo (1899) has both “song” and “poetic composition meant to be sung”.^[10]

Today the word means any piece of music to be sung, popular or art music, and in literature a lyric poem of high quality; figuratively it is any melodious sound, such as birdsong.^[4][5][11] Canção de gesta is the medieval French epic, and in Portugal the informal canção do bandido is smooth talk meant to win someone over.^[4]

Timeline

• 13th century – the plural canções.^[4]
• 1697 – Pereira lists cançam.^[2]
• 1712 – Bluteau describes the literary canção.^[3]
• 1871 – Vieira enters a homonymous bird name.^[12]
• 1899 – Figueiredo gives “song” and “poem to be sung”.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A song: a piece of music, popular or art music, for singing.^[4][5][1]
2. A musical setting of a poem or text, with or without accompaniment.^[4][5]
3. (literature) A lyric poem of elevated style; in the Middle Ages, a poem sung by the troubadours (trovadores).^[4][11]
4. (figurative) A melodious sound: a canção do vento.^[4]

Related words

• cantar
• canto
• cantiga
• cancioneiro

Usage notes

Vieira (1871) also records a masculine canção, the name of a Brazilian bird the size of a blackbird, with black and white feathers, which he takes for an altered Tupi word.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cançam
3. ^ 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. cançam
4. ^ 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. canção
5. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. canção
6. ^ a b 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. cançon
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1619
8. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. canción
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. cantiō
10. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 240
11. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1728
12. ^ 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, 74