comunhão

Forms

comunhão f (plural comunhões)^[2][1] The Cantigas de Santa Maria write comoyon and comũyon; later medieval spellings are comuhõ, comuinon and cumunhom (14th century) and comunham and comunhõ (15th century).^[3][4][2][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin commūniō (“communion”), the Church Latin sense of a word that in classical Latin meant "sharing, association".^[2][5][1] Nascentes calls it a semi-learned word, one that came in through the language of the Church but took a popular shape.^[6]

The same Latin word is Galician comuñón, Spanish comunión, Catalan comunió, French communion, Italian comunione and Romanian comuniune.^[1][7] The French word came through comunion.^[1]

The Latin noun is formed from commūnis (“common, shared”) with the suffix -iō.^[8][1] Wiktionary traces the adjective to the Old Latin form comoinis and Proto-Italic *kommoinis, a compound of com- with a word for exchange or obligation, from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to change, exchange”); it is cognate with Proto-Germanic *gamainiz (“common”).^[1][9] The inherited Portuguese adjective is comum.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria of the 13th century use comoyon for the consecrated host and the sacrament: in cantiga 104 a woman "wanted at once to take communion" (queria logo comoyon prender), and cantiga 128 warns to hold a comoyon in the mouth without swallowing it.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The medieval word was above all the sacrament, and Barbosa's dictionary of 1611 still glosses Comunhão only as the Eucharist, with dar a comunhão a alguém "to give someone communion".^[11] The wider senses of the Latin word, "common sharing" and "agreement of feelings and ideas", came into use beside it;^[12][2] Caldas Aulete gives a comunhão dos fiéis for the body of the faithful.^[12][2] In the liturgy the word also names the part of the mass when the Eucharist is given and the antiphon sung or read then.^[2]

In law comunhão is joint ownership of one thing by two or more people, and the community of property between husband and wife set by the marriage contract: comunhão de bens, and in Portugal comunhão de adquiridos for the regime that shares what the couple acquires after the wedding.^[2][13] Primeira comunhão is the ceremony in which a child receives the Eucharist for the first time.^[2]

Timeline

• 13th century – comoyon in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[3][2][5]
• 14th century – the spellings comuhõ, comuinon and cumunhom.^[2]
• 15th century – comunham and comunhõ.^[2][5]
• 1587 – comunhão in a private letter.^[14]
• 1611 – Barbosa glosses Comunhão as the Eucharist.^[11]
• 1712 – Bluteau's dictionary spells it communhão.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of taking communion; doing something in common, or the result.^[2][16]
2. Agreement of feelings, ideas or ways of acting; fellowship, harmony: uma comunhão de interesses entre os dois povos.^[2][17]
3. Sharing, union, connection.^[2]
4. (liturgy) The sacrament of the Eucharist; the giving or receiving of it; the part of the mass in which it is given.^[2][18]
5. (liturgy) The antiphon the choir sings or the priest reads after the priest has received communion.^[2][12]
6. A religious community united by one faith: a comunhão anglicana.^[2]
7. (law) Joint ownership of a thing by two or more people; the community of property between spouses set by the marriage contract.^[2][13]

Related words

• comum
• comungar
• comunidade
• Latin commūniō
• Spanish comunión

Usage notes

Fixed phrases: comunhão dos santos, the fellowship of all believers, living and dead;^[2][19] comunhão universal, the marriage regime in which all goods and debts are shared;^[2][19] primeira comunhão.^[2][19]

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 l m n o p q r s t u v Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. comunhão
3. ^ 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. comoyon
4. ^ 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. comuyon
5. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. comunhão
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. comunhão
7. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. comunión
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. commūniō
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. commūnis
10. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. communis
11. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. comunhão
12. ^ a b c 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. comunhão
13. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2282
14. ^ 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. comunhão
15. ^ 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. comunhão
16. ^ 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. comunhão
17. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. comunhão
18. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. comunhão
19. ^ 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. comunhão