carta

Forms

carta f (plural cartas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin charta (“papyrus leaf; paper”), written Old Galician-Portuguese carta in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] The Latin word, also spelt carta, is from Ancient Greek χάρτης (khártēs, “papyrus leaf, roll”), an early borrowing that became feminine in Latin.^[2][4][1]

The same Latin word is Galician carta, Spanish carta, Catalan carta, Italian carta and Romanian carte.^[5][1] Nascentes notes that Italian kept the original sense “paper”, which Portuguese and Spanish lost when the word took over the sense of Latin litterae (“letter”).^[6] cartaz is a doublet, from the same Greek word through Arabic.^[1][7]

Beekes calls the Greek word unexplained and probably from Egypt, like the papyrus plant itself;^[8][6] Nascentes, after Boisacq, also thought it probably Egyptian.^[8][6] Wiktionary notes that Beekes and Chantraine reject the old derivation from χαράσσω (kharássō, “to scratch, engrave”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to 1254.^[2] Lorenzo's records begin with charters: in 1254 quantos esta carta viren “all who see this charter”, the opening formula of a deed, and in 1256 mandamos ende fazer duas cartas “we ordered two documents to be made of it”.^[9] So the first sense is a written document, a deed or charter; the Cantigas de Santa Maria also use it for a letter, hũa carta de seu sennor que lle chegou “a letter from his lord that reached him”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Medieval texts use carta for any written document: a letter, a deed, a contract, such as the pact Theophilus signed with the devil in the Cantigas de Santa Maria, and a carta de soldada setting out the terms of a servant's wages.^[9][10] The sense “letter” became the main one: Cardoso (1569) renders it by Latin epistola and litterae, and Bluteau defines it as a paper written to an absent person.^[11][12]

Folqman (1755) has the cartas de jogar, the playing cards, and Morais (1789) both the playing card and the carta geográfica, the map.^[13][14] Priberam still labels the sense “map” a Gallicism.^[15] Official documents kept the word: the carta de alforria that freed a slave, the carta constitucional, the carta de condução or driving licence of Portugal, which in São Paulo is simply carta.^[2][16][1] In restaurants it is the menu.^[2]

The word passed into Papiamentu as karta, and through Portuguese traders into Japanese as カルタ (karuta), the playing card, and into Swahili as karata.^[1]

Timeline

• 1254 – quantos esta carta viren in a charter.^[9][2]
• 1256 – mandamos ende fazer duas cartas.^[9]
• 13th century – the Cantigas de Santa Maria use it for a letter and for a contract.^[9]
• 1416 – first record in the CTA prose corpus, in the Vida de Santo Aleixo.^[17]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders Carta by Latin epistola and litterae.^[11]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists carta de pago “receipt” and carta precatoria.^[18]
• 1755 – Folqman has cartas de jogar “playing cards”.^[13]
• 1789 – Morais records the carta de jogar and the carta geográfica.^[14]
• 1899 – Figueiredo also records carta as the name of a Portuguese fish.^[19]

Meanings

Noun

1. A letter, a written message sent to a person or an organisation: Escrevi-lhe uma carta longa.^[2][20][1]
2. A diploma or other official document granting a title, a right or a permission: carta de condução, carta de alforria.^[2][15]
3. (law) A charter; a document that proves or confers rights, and a country's constitution: carta constitucional.^[2][20][1]
4. A map or chart: carta náutica.^[20][21][1]
5. A playing card;^[2][1] (in the plural) a pack of cards, or card games.^[2][1]
6. The menu (cardápio) of a restaurant, and its list of wines.^[2][16]
7. (São Paulo) A driving licence.^[2][16][1]
8. (Portugal) A wallet (carteira).^[2]
9. (ichthyology) A small flatfish of the Portuguese coast.^[15][21]

Word family

• carteiro
• carteira
• cartear
• encartar
• sobrecarta
• cartório
• carta aberta
• carta branca

Related words

• cartaz
• cartão
• cartilha
• Latin charta
• Spanish carta

Usage notes

The idioms carta branca “a free hand, full powers” (first a blank sheet of paper or a card without a figure) and carta fora do baralho “someone who no longer counts” are common.^[2][22][23]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. carta
3. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. carta
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. charta
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1866
6. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 101
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. charta
8. ^ a b 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. χάρτης
9. ^ a b c d e f 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. carta
10. ^ 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. carta
11. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. carta
12. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. carta
13. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. carta
14. ^ 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, 239
15. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. carta
16. ^ a b c 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. carta
17. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. carta
18. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. carta
19. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 258
20. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. carta
21. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1845
22. ^ 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, 124
23. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. carta