Etymologically

Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word causação

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1400s spelt causaçom More words from the 15th century
Borrowed from
Latin causatio
Ultimate origin
Latin causor
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin causa
French chose
Italian cosa
Portuguese coisa
Spanish cosa
French cause
Italian causa
Old French cause
English cause
Romanian cauză
Latin causor
French causer
Romanian cauza
Italian causare
Latin causātiō
English causation
Portuguese causação
From the same root
Latin accūsō ← causa
Latin causālis ← causa
Latin causidicus ← causa
Latin causō ← causa
Latin excūsō ← causa
Latin incūsō ← causa
Latin recūsō ← causa
Spanish acusar ← causa
Italian coso ← cosa
Italian qualcosa ← cosa
English because ← cause

Forms

causação f (plural causações).[1] The 15th-century form is causaçom.[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin causātiō (“pretext, excuse; occasion; illness; accusation”).[2][3][4] The Latin noun is formed from causor (“to plead as a reason”) with the suffix -tiō.[5] Michaelis and DELPo analyse the Portuguese word instead as causar with the suffix -ção, as Aulete's original edition did.[6][7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates causaçom to the 15th century from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese.[2] Cunha's dictionary records the modern form only from the 20th century.[4]

Semantic evolution

The Latin word meant a plea or excuse, and later an illness; in Medieval Latin it was a complaint, an accusation or a lawsuit.[8][9] Portuguese uses it for the act of causing, and modern dictionaries add the causal process or the set of causes behind something.[2][1][6]

Timeline

  • 15th century – first record, spelt causaçom.[2]
  • 20th century – Cunha's first record of the modern form.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The act or result of causing; a cause.[2][3]
  2. A causal process; the set of causes of something; causation.[1][6]

References

  1. ^ 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. causação
  2. ^ a b c d e f Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. causação
  3. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. causação
  4. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. causação
  5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. causātiō
  6. ^ a b c 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. causação
  7. ^ NEHiLP – Núcleo de Apoio à Pesquisa em Etimologia e História da Língua Portuguesa, Universidade de São Paulo, DELPo: Dicionário Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa (online database), p. s.v. causação
  8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. causatio
  9. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. causatio

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Causação.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/causa%C3%A7%C3%A3o. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·