centauro

Forms

centauro m (plural centauros)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin centaurus (“centaur”), which is from Ancient Greek κένταυρος (kéntauros).^[2][3][1][4] The Greek word was first the name of a savage people living between Pelion and Ossa in Thessaly.^[1][5] Its own origin is unclear: Wiktionary mentions a derivation from κεντέω (kentéō, “to goad”) and ταῦρος (taûros, “bull”), from bull-fighting or herding, and a frequent comparison with the Indo-Iranian word behind Sanskrit गन्धर्व (gandharva), which would imply borrowing or heavy remodelling.^[1] Nascentes reports the same derivation from the Greek verb “to goad” and the word for “bull”, and Vieira already gives the comparison with the Sanskrit word.^[6][7]

The same Latin word is Galician centauro, Spanish centauro, Catalan centaure, French centaure and Italian centauro.^[1][8] Spanish has it from 1256–1276, in an astronomical treatise.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first Portuguese record is in the Crónica Geral de Espanha of 1344, where the centaurs are “a lineage of very strong horsemen” (os Centauros que era hũu linhagem de muy fortes cavalleiros).^[10][2] Houaiss gives this sense, “a skilled and tireless horseman”, the date 1344, and dates the mythological monster to 1566.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The first record treats the centaurs as a people of horsemen, which matches the oldest Greek use of the name for a wild people of Thessaly.^[10][5] Bluteau defines the centaur as a monster, half man and half horse, but explains the name as given to those who first learnt to ride, so that Chiron the centaur taught Achilles horsemanship.^[11] Morais adds the constellation in 1789.^[12] Today the word names the mythical creature, a rider so skilled that he seems one body with his horse, and, with a capital, the southern constellation Centaurus near the Southern Cross.^[2][13][3] Caldas Aulete also uses it figuratively for a person made of a noble and a bestial part, or one inseparable from a machine.^[14]

Timeline

• 1344 – the Crónica Geral de Espanha calls the Centaurs “a lineage of very strong horsemen”.^[10][2]
• 1566 – first date for the half-human, half-horse monster.^[2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau explains the centaurs as the first horsemen.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais records the monster and the constellation.^[12]
• 1871 – Vieira compares the Greek word with the Sanskrit gandharva.^[7]
• 1899 – Figueiredo enters only the constellation.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Greek mythology) A centaur, a creature with the head, torso and arms of a man and the body and legs of a horse (cavalo).^[2][3][4][1]
2. A skilled, tireless horseman, who seems to form one body with his mount.^[2][13][16]
3. (figurative) A person seen as made of a noble and a bestial part, or as inseparable from a machine.^[14]
4. (astronomy, capitalised) Centaurus, a large southern constellation (constelação) near the Southern Cross.^{[2][3][13][4]}
5. (astronomy) A centaur, a minor body of the solar system orbiting between Jupiter and Neptune.^[17]

Related words

• hipocentauro
• Latin centaurus
• Spanish centauro

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. centauro
3. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. centauro
4. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1947
5. ^ a b Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. Κένταυρος
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1952), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 2: Nomes próprios, Rio de Janeiro, p. s.v. centauro
7. ^ 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, 168
8. ^ Estraviz, Isaac Alonso, Dicionário Estraviz, https://estraviz.org, p. s.v. centauro
9. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 32
10. ^ a b c 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. centauro
11. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. centauro
12. ^ 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, 253
13. ^ 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. centauro
14. ^ a b 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. centauro
15. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 274
16. ^ 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. centauro
17. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. centauro