certo

Forms

certo (feminine certa, masculine plural certos, feminine plural certas, comparable, comparative mais certo, superlative o mais certo or certíssimo, diminutive certinho)^[1] Beside certo, Houaiss records the medieval spellings çerto (1328) and serto (14th century).^[2] A private letter of 1520 still writes çerto.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin certus (“decided, fixed, sure”), written Old Galician-Portuguese certo in the oldest texts.^[2][4][5][1] The Latin adjective was originally the past participle of cernō (“to sift; to distinguish, decide”).^[1][6]

The same Latin word is Galician certo, Spanish cierto, Catalan cert, Italian certo and Romanian cert.^[7][8][1] French kept it in the adverb French certes, from a popular Latin feminine plural used as an adverb of affirmation.^[9]

De Vaan traces the Latin word to Proto-Italic *krito- (“distinguished”) and Proto-Indo-European *krito- (“sifted”), the old participle that was replaced in the verb's paradigm by crētus, and compares Ancient Greek κριτός (kritós, “separate, chosen”).^[6][1] Wiktionary gives the root as *krey- (“to move; to separate”).^[1] The indefinite use, “a certain”, already existed in Latin: Nascentes cites an example from Cicero, and Du Cange glosses the word in Medieval Latin with quīdam (“a certain one”).^[5][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the adjective to the 13th century.^[2][4] In the Cantigas de Santa Maria it already means “sure, certain” of a person (por que certos sejades “so that you may be certain”) and “true, undoubted” of a thing (Esto foy cousa muy certa “this was a very certain thing”), and it is used as an adverb, certo cho dizemos “we tell it to you for certain”.^[11] The troubadours used certo as an adverb too: D. Dinis writes pois eu certo sei “for I surely know”.^[12]

Semantic evolution

Medieval texts already had the main phrases of today: por certo and de certo “for certain”, and fazer certo “to assure”.^[11][2] The satirical cantigas use the word for an exact answer, certa reposta.^[11] The indefinite determiner certo “a certain, some” is recorded in the cantigas, in a line on creatures that come together a certas sazões “at certain seasons”.^[13] Pereira's dictionary of 1697 enters certo only with Latin quidam, the indefinite sense, while Bluteau (1712–1728) gives first “a thing known with certainty”.^[14][15] Morais (1813) adds homem certo “a man who keeps his word”.^[16]

Modern dictionaries list a wide range of senses: correct, exact (of a clock or an answer), fixed beforehand, convinced, on target, regular in pace.^[2][17] Houaiss also has a horse-breaking sense, “obedient to the rein”, which the TLPGP records in Brazil as certo de boca.^[2][18] As an adverb, certo says “certainly” or “correctly”, and on its own it answers “all right”.^[2][19][1]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records, in Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese.^[2][4]
• 13th century, second half – the Cantigas de Santa Maria use certo as adjective and adverb, with saber por certo and de certo.^[11]
• 1328 – the spelling çerto.^[2]
• c. 1430 – certo in the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437).^[20]
• 1572 – first record of the derivative certeza.^[4]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses certo with Latin quidam “a certain one”.^[14]
• 1755 – Folqman gives certo homem “a certain man”.^[21]
• 1789 – Morais defines certo as “convinced of the truth”.^[22]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira derives certus from the participle of cernere “to separate, distinguish”.^[23]

Meanings

Adjective

1. correct, right, free from error; true: A conta está certa.^[2][17][1]
2. Beyond doubt; sure, certain, inevitable: A vitória deles era certa.^[2][1]
3. Agreed or fixed beforehand: Encontram-se a horas certas.^[2][17]
4. Proper, suitable, in keeping with a rule or custom: a palavra certa.^[2][24]
5. exact, accurate; on target: Este relógio nunca está certo.^[2][1]
6. Regular, even in pace.^[2][25]
7. Convinced, persuaded (of something): Estou certo de que ela vem.^[2][17]
8. (of a riding or draught animal) broken, obedient to the rein.^[2][26]
9. Morally right, just.^[1][24]

Determiner

1. A certain, some (a person or thing not named or not specified): Certo dia, bateu-me à porta.^[2][19][1]
2. Particular, distinct from others of the kind: certas pessoas.^[2]

Adverb

1. certainly, surely.^[2][1]
2. correctly, exactly: Ele respondeu certo.^[2][1]

Noun

1. What is certain or correct: trocar o certo pelo duvidoso.^[2][19]

Interjection

1. OK, all right (agreeing).^[1][19]

Word family

• acertar
• acerto
• certeiro
• certeza
• certamente
• certinho
• desacertar

Related words

• certidão
• certificar
• incerto
• incerteza
• Latin certus
• Galician certo
• Spanish cierto

Usage notes

Common phrases are ao certo “exactly, for sure”, por certo “without doubt” (recorded since the 13th century), dar certo “to work out” and, in Portugal, bater certo “to make sense”.^[2][27] A Brazilian dialect survey of the TLPGP also records certo for “right-handed”.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. certo
3. ^ 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. certo
4. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. certo
5. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 110
6. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. certus
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. certes
10. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. s.v. certus
11. ^ a b c d 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. certo
12. ^ Lopes, Graça Videira; Ferreira, Manuel Pedro et al. (2011–), Cantigas Medievais Galego-Portuguesas [online database], Lisboa: Instituto de Estudos Medievais, FCSH/NOVA, https://cantigas.fcsh.unl.pt, p. s.v. certo
13. ^ 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. certo2
14. ^ 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. certo
15. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. certo
16. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 377
17. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. certo
18. ^ a b Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. certo
19. ^ a b c d 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. certo
20. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. certo
21. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. certo
22. ^ 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, 257
23. ^ 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, 179
24. ^ 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. certo
25. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. certo
26. ^ 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. certo
27. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1972