capacidade

Forms

capacidade f (plural capacidades)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin capācitās (“capacity; mental grasp”), a learned word.^[1][2][3] The Latin noun is formed from capāx (“able to hold”) with the suffix -tās, and the adjective from capiō (“to take; to hold”).^[4][1][5] In Latin it meant the ability to hold, and size.^[4] Medieval Latin added legal and mental capacity.^[4][6] Aurélio also relates it to Portuguese capaz.^[7]

The same Latin word is Spanish capacidad, Galician capacidade, Catalan capacitat, Italian capacità and Romanian capacitate.^[1] French borrowed capacité in 1314.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 15th century.^[2][3] Lorenzo cites the Portuguese Vita Christi, where everyone receives segundo sua capacidade “according to his capacity”, against Machado's 17th-century date.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Cardoso (1569) and Barbosa (1611) gloss it with Latin captus, the grasp of the mind.^[10][11] Folqman (1755) separates the capacity of a place from that of the understanding.^[12] Morais (1789) defines it first as an empty space where something can be put and its size, and figuratively as aptitude of mind.^[13] Figueiredo (1899) adds a person of great abilities and legal capacity.^[14] The 20th century brought technical senses in physics and electricity, such as the charge of a battery and heat capacity (capacidade calorífica).^[2][15]

Timeline

• 15th century – first records, according to Houaiss and Cunha.^[2][3]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses it with Latin captus and capacitas.^[10]
• 1698 – Capasidade in a private letter.^[16]
• 1755 – Folqman separates the capacity of a place and of the understanding.^[12]
• 1789 – Morais defines both the physical and the figurative sense.^[13]
• 1899 – Figueiredo adds “a person of great abilities”.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. capacity, the amount that something can hold or accommodate; volume: um estádio com capacidade para quarenta mil pessoas.^[2][7][1]
2. Power of production; maximum output.^[2][17]
3. The quality of being capable; physical or mental ability, aptitude.^[2][7]
4. (by metonymy) A person of great talent or learning.^[2][7]
5. (electricity) The charge or energy a battery can deliver; the property of a set of conductors of storing charge, capacitance.^[2][17]
6. (law) Legal capacity to acquire rights and perform acts of civil life; one of the conditions for a valid lawsuit.^[2][18]

Word family

• capacitar
• incapacidade

Related words

• capaz
• Latin capāx
• Spanish capacidad

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. capacidade
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. capacidade
4. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. capacitas
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. capacitas
7. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. capacidade
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. capacité
9. ^ 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. capacidade
10. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. capacidade
11. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. capacidade
12. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. capacidade
13. ^ 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, 228
14. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 246
15. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda (1975), Novo dicionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, p. 296
16. ^ CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. capacidade
17. ^ 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. capacidade
18. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1761