comunal

Forms

comunal m or f (plural comunais)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote comunal and comũal in the 13th century, comunall in 1380, cumunnal in 1391 and cumunal in the 14th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin commūnālis, formed from commūnis (“common, shared”) with the suffix -ālis, written Old Galician-Portuguese comunal and Old Galician-Portuguese comũal in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] Nascentes considers it a semi-learned development of the Latin word.^[4] The DLP and the Porto dictionary derive the modern word, in the sense “of a commune”, from French communal.^[5][6]

The same Late Latin word is Spanish comunal, Catalan comunal, Old Occitan comunal and Romanian comunal.^[1][7] In Spanish it is recorded from 1220–1250, and Corominas notes that in the 13th and 14th centuries Spanish used it almost exclusively for the adjective “common”.^[8][9]

The Latin adjective goes back to Old Latin comoinis, formed with com-, and to Proto-Italic *kommoinis, from the root Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to change, exchange”).^[1][10] It has a Germanic cognate in Proto-Germanic *gamainiz (“shared, common”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 13th century, with the sense “common, belonging to several or to all”.^[2][3] In the cantigas it means “of equal standing” and “sociable”, and a woman of a man's own rank is his comunal: do rafec'ome que sa comunal / non quer servir “of the low man who will not serve his equal”.^[11][12]

Semantic evolution

Medieval texts use the word for what is common, ordinary and usual: the Crónica Troiana calls something cousa natural et comunal de todos “a thing natural and common to all”, uses it for a mirror open to all who came into the room, and for Briseida's average height.^[13] The cantigas d'amor also give it the sense “simple, affable”.^[13] Viterbo records it as a word of the 15th and 16th centuries for “common, ordinary”.^[14] The sense “common” is now marked as old.^[2][15] The current sense, “of a commune”, belongs to the medieval self-governing towns and to modern municipalities, and the plural bens comunais names the common lands of a concelho.^[2][5][16]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records, as comunal and comũal.^[2][3]
• 1380 – the spelling comunall.^[2]
• 1391 – the spelling cumunnal.^[2]
• c. 1430 – six occurrences in the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437).^[17]
• 1798 – Viterbo's Elucidário places the word in the 15th and 16th centuries.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to a commune (comuna), a municipality (município) or a self-governing medieval town: as eleições comunais.^{[2][15][5][6]}
2. (archaic) Common (comum), belonging to two or more people, to most or to all.^[2][15][5]

Noun

1. An inhabitant of a commune.^[2][15][5]
2. (in the plural) The common lands of a commune or concelho, such as commons (baldio) and pastures.^[16]

Related words

• comum
• comuna
• comunidade
• Latin commūnis
• Spanish comunal

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 j k Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. comunal
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. comunal
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. comunal
5. ^ a b c d e 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. comunal
6. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2282
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. communalis
8. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. común
9. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 163
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. communis
11. ^ 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. comunal
12. ^ 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. comunal
13. ^ a b 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. comunal
14. ^ a b Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 298
15. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. comunal
16. ^ 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. comunal
17. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. comunal