coisa

Forms

coisa f (plural coisas)^[1] The medieval form was cousa, also spelt coussa and quoussa in the 13th century;^[1] coisa is first recorded in 1352 and coysa in the 16th century.^[2][3][4] Houaiss now labels cousa informal.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin causa (“cause, reason; lawsuit; matter”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cousa in the oldest texts.^[3][4][1] Houaiss explains the present form as the old one with the semivowel of the diphthong exchanged.^[3]

The sense “thing” is Latin: the word was often used beside rēs (“thing, affair”) in legal language and took over its meaning.^[3] In the spoken Latin of the 4th century it was already a synonym of the Latin noun.^[5] Nascentes adds that it replaced the monosyllable because a word of one syllable had too little body, and that Hyginus and the Reichenau Glosses of the 8th century already use it so.^[6][7] The learned causa, taken again from the same Latin word, is its doublet.^[3][1]

The same Latin word is Galician cousa, Spanish cosa, Catalan cosa, Occitan causa, French chose and Italian cosa.^[8][1]

Early inscriptions spell the Latin word caussa, which Wiktionary traces to Proto-Italic *kaussā.^[9][1] Its further origin is unclear: Walde and Hofmann link it with cūdō (“to strike”), taking “a strike” as the first sense, while Ernout and Meillet doubt that it is Indo-European at all.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Galician-Portuguese charter of 1228 has e todas aquelas cousas delle seyan do senor do Burgo “and let all those things of his belong to the lord of the Burgo”.^[10] Charters of 1257 and later open with the formula Conozuda cousa seia “be it known”.^[10] The Cantigas de Santa Maria speak of as cousas que á mester eno trobar “the things that making songs requires”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

In the medieval texts the word covers objects, matters and events, and in the cantigas it can refer to a person.^[10] With a negative it meant “nothing” (nulha cousa, cousa nenhuma), and a notarial book of Noia has cousa algũa “anything” in 1469.^[10]

Cardoso's dictionary of 1569 renders Cousa with the Latin res.^[11] Bluteau (1712) calls it the general name of everything in the world and derives it from Latin causa, quoting Hyginus's use of that word for a thing.^[12] Morais (1789) records the saying não dizer cousa com cousa “to talk without sense or connection”.^[13] Figueiredo (1899) heads the word Coisa and gives it the senses of reality, fact, business, mystery and, in the plural, property.^[14]

In Brazil it serves as a vague word for anything one cannot or will not name, and in the north-east a coisa is slang for a cannabis cigarette.^[1][15] The word passed into the Portuguese creoles: kusa in Kabuverdianu and Guinea-Bissau Creole, kousa in Papiamentu and cuza in Macanese.^[1]

Timeline

• 1228 – cousas in a Galician-Portuguese charter.^[10]
• 1257 – the charter formula Conozuda cousa seia.^[10]
• 1260 – Houaiss's first date for cousa;^[11] quoussa follows in 1292 and coussa in 1298.^[2]
• 1352 – first record of the spelling coisa.^[3]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary: Cousa, Latin res.^[11]
• 1712 – Bluteau heads the word cousa and derives it from Latin causa.^[12]
• 1734 – Feijó lists Cousa and Coisa side by side.^[16]
• 1789 – Morais still heads the word Cousa.^[13]
• 1871 – Vieira refers Coisa to Cousa.^[17]
• 1899 – Figueiredo heads the word Coisa.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. Anything that exists or can exist, concrete or abstract: Há coisas que não se explicam.^[18][19][20]
2. An inanimate object, as opposed to a living being.^[18][19][20]
3. What is real, a fact, as opposed to words or appearances.^[18][19]
4. An affair or business; a matter one deals with or talks about: Tenho umas coisas a resolver na cidade.^[18][20][21]
5. An event, occurrence or circumstance: Como foi que a coisa aconteceu?^[18][21]
6. (in the plural) One's belongings or property; one's interests and obligations.^[14][20][19]
7. (informal) A thing whose name one does not know or does not want to say; a thingamajig.^[1][21]
8. (north-eastern Brazil, slang) A joint, a cannabis cigarette.^[15]

Word family

• coisa-ruim
• coisar
• coisificar
• coisinha
• coiso

Related words

• causa
• Galician cousa
• Spanish cosa

Usage notes

Houaiss records the rhyming phrase coisas e loisas, also cousas e lousas, as informal.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. cousa
3. ^ 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. coisa
4. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. coisa
5. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 219
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. coisa
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 126
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1781
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c d e f g 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. cousa
11. ^ a b c Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cousa
12. ^ 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. cousa
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, 344
14. ^ a b c Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 312
15. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. coisa
16. ^ Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cousa
17. ^ 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, 269
18. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. coisa
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. coisa
20. ^ a b c d Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2196
21. ^ 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. coisa