Etymologically
Log in

canto

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word canto

canto1 corner

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1294
Inherited from
Latin canthus
Ultimate origin
Latin canthus
Etymology tree of canto1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin canthus
Italian canto
English canto
Portuguese canto
From the same root · canto1
Italian cantina ← canthus
Italian accanto ← canto

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /ˈkɐ̃.tu/[1]
  • Portugal: /ˈkɐ̃.tu/[1]

Forms

canto m (plural cantos)[1] Medieval texts also spell it cãto and quanto.[2]

Etymology

The word for the corner is inherited from Latin canthus (“iron tyre of a wheel”), written Old Galician-Portuguese canto in the oldest texts.[2][1] Houaiss derives the Latin word from Ancient Greek κανθός (kanthós, “corner of the eye; iron rim of a wheel”).[2] Cunha gives instead the Latin form cantus, perhaps of Celtic origin, and Wiktionary allows both a Latin ⟨canthus⟩ and a Vulgar Latin ⟨cantus⟩.[3][1]

The same Latin word is Spanish canto (“edge, side”), Italian canto and Old French chant (“side”), and through a Norman form English cant and German Kante (“edge”).[4] Corominas calls the Latin word for the metal tyre rare and foreign, perhaps Celtic, and notes that Quintilian already called it Hispanic or African.[5] Wiktionary traces the sense “rim of a wheel” to Gaulish, from Proto-Celtic *kantos (“corner, rim”), and puts the spelling with -th- down to the unrelated Greek word.[1] Beekes considers the Greek noun most probably Pre-Greek.[6] Nascentes summarises the older views: Meyer-Lübke and Adolfo Coelho took the word through Latin from Greek, Diez thought of an Iberian origin, and Cortesão of a Celtic origin.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to 1294, from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese.[2] The Crónica Troiana describes a chamber with four pillars standing in its four corners (quatro piares ẽnos quatro cantos), and uses the word also for a small bit or point.[8]

Semantic evolution

From the angle where two lines or walls meet, the word came to mean a secluded spot, a nook, and then the place where one lives.[2][9] Cunha records the derivative recanto “out-of-the-way place” in the 15th century.[3][10] In anatomy it names the corner of the mouth or of the eye.[2][11] Houaiss dates the building sense, a piece shaped to finish the corner of a structure, to 1570.[2] Sport added the corner of the pitch, and in Portugal the corner kick itself, for which Brazil coined escanteio (1942), modelled on English corner.[2][12] In old Bahia a canto was the corner where freed slaves and porters gathered to wait to be hired.[2][13]

Timeline

  • 1294 – Houaiss's first date for the word.[2]
  • 15th century – first record of recanto.[3]
  • 1569 – Cardoso glosses Canto. ou cantinho with Latin angulus.[14]
  • 1570 – first date of the building sense.[2]
  • 1706 – first record of cantoneira.[15]
  • 1755 – Folqman separates canto “corner of a house” from canto “singing”.[16]
  • 1789 – Morais describes the children's game jogo dos cantos, played by four people in the corners of a room and a fifth in the middle.[17]
  • 1942 – first record of escanteio.[12]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A corner, the point, line or space where two lines or surfaces meet; an angle: Encostou a mesa ao canto da sala.[2][9][1]
  2. A secluded or remote place, a recanto.[2][9][1]
  3. The place where one lives or habitually goes; one's home.[2][9]
  4. (anatomy) The corner of the mouth or of the eye, a commissure.[2][11]
  5. (building) A dressed piece or stone that finishes the corner of a building.[2][18]
  6. (carpentry) The edge or joint of a board.[9][18]
  7. (sports) The corner of a pitch where the touchline meets the goal line;[1] (Portugal, football) a corner kick.[2][1]
  8. (boxing) The corner of the ring where a boxer rests between rounds.[2]
  9. (heraldry) An angle of the shield or of its charges.[2]

Word family

  • cantinho
  • recanto
  • escanteio
  • cantoneira

canto2 singing, song

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1200s
Inherited from
Latin cantus
Ultimate origin
Latin canō
Etymology tree of canto2
inherited borrowed derived
Latin canō
Latin cantus
French chant
Italian canto
English canto
Portuguese canto
Spanish canto
From the same root · canto2
Latin būcina ← canō
Latin canor ← canō
Latin cantiō ← canō
Latin cantō ← canō
Latin cantor ← canō
Latin cantrīx ← canō
Latin carmen ← canō
Latin concinō ← canō
Latin incinō ← canō
Latin luscinia ← canō
Latin recino ← canō
English descant ← cantus
Latin canticum ← cantus
Latin discantus ← cantus

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /ˈkɐ̃.tu/[1]
  • Portugal: /ˈkɐ̃.tu/[1]

Forms

canto m (plural cantos)[1] Medieval texts also spell it cãto and quanto.[2]

Etymology

The word for singing is inherited from Latin cantus (“singing, song”), written Old Galician-Portuguese canto in the oldest texts.[2][1] The Latin noun is formed from the supine ⟨cantum⟩ of canō (“to sing”), with the suffix of action nouns.[2][1][19] Wiktionary traces the verb to Proto-Indo-European *keh₂n- (“to sing”).[1]

The same Latin word is Galician canto, Spanish canto, Catalan cant, French chant and Italian canto.[20][1] English chant is a cognate, through French.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 13th century.[2][21] A secular cantiga already speaks of the singing of the birds: Non me posso pagar tanto / do canto / das aves “I cannot take so much delight in the song of the birds”.[22]

Semantic evolution

Besides the act of singing, the word named the melody sung and, in the dictionaries of the 17th century, a song: Pereira glosses Canto, ou cantiga with Latin cantus planus.[23] Church music gave cantochão “plainsong”, recorded before 1542, and canto gregoriano “Gregorian chant”.[24][2] In literature it is each of the large divisions of an epic poem, a sense Morais records in 1789.[17][2] By extension it names the song of birds and any melodious sound, and figurative phrases such as canto de sereia “siren song, an irresistible lure” and canto do cisne “swan song, an artist's last great work” are common.[2][11]

Timeline

  • 13th century – first records.[2]
  • before 1542 – first record of cantochão, spelt camto chaão.[24]
  • 1697 – Pereira glosses Canto, ou cantiga.[23]
  • 1755 – Folqman glosses canto, “the action of singing”, and canto das aves.[16]
  • 1789 – Morais records the senses “action of singing” and “part of an epic”.[17]
  • 1899 – Figueiredo gives the singing word and the corner word separate articles.[25]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The act of singing; singing.[2][9][1]
  2. A melody or set of melodies that is sung; a song or chant.[2][26][1]
  3. (music) Singing as an art and technique of training the voice: Tem aulas de canto às terças.[2][9]
  4. The song of a bird; the call of other animals such as frogs and crickets.[2][26][1]
  5. (figurative) Any melodious or rhythmic sound.[2][1]
  6. (literature) Lyric poetry meant to be sung.[2][9]
  7. (poetry) Each of the large divisions of a long poem, a canto.[2][9][1]

Word family

  • cantochão

Usage notes

Houaiss and Cunha also record canto “large stone; dressed stone used in masonry” as a third word.[2][3] Houaiss, following Corominas, calls it of obscure, probably pre-Roman origin, and Corominas notes that the word is shared by the three Hispanic Romance languages;[27] Cunha derives it, with a doubt, from Latin canthus.[2][27][3] Wiktionary lists the stone sense under the corner word.[1] cantaria “stonework” and canteira “quarry” are derived from this stone word.[28][29]

The phrases em todo canto and por todo canto mean “everywhere”, and olhar pelo canto do olho is to look sidelong.[2][1]

References

  1. ^ 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 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 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. canto
  3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. canto
  4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1616
  5. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 817
  6. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. κανθός
  7. ^ 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. canto
  8. ^ 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. canto
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. canto
  10. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. recanto
  11. ^ a b c 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. canto
  12. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. escanteio
  13. ^ Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. canto
  14. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. canto
  15. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. cantoneira
  16. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. canto
  17. ^ a b c 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, 228
  18. ^ 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. canto
  19. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  20. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1620
  21. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. cantar
  22. ^ 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. canto
  23. ^ a b 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. canto
  24. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. cantochão
  25. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. canto
  26. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. canto
  27. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. canto
  28. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. cantaria
  29. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. canteira

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Canto.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/canto. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·