conde

Forms

conde m (plural condes, feminine condessa, feminine plural condessas)^[1] Houaiss's historical forms are comde (1032, in a Latin charter), cõde (14th century) and quonde (15th century).^[2] Wiktionary lists comde as an old spelling.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin comes (“companion”), written Old Galician-Portuguese conde in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] Latin charters show the intermediate form comide.^[5][6]

In the Late Empire the Latin word, “one who goes with someone”, became the title of the nobles of the palace who accompanied the emperor, and later a rank of the feudal order.^[4][7][8] Nascentes adds that the title spread through the Frankish kingdoms.^[4]

The same Latin word is Galician conde, Spanish conde, Catalan comte, French comte and Italian conte.^[9][1] Old Spanish usually had the diphthong, Old Spanish cuende, and Old French kept the nominative as Old French cuens beside conte from the oblique form.^[7][10]

The Latin word is a compound of com- (“together”) and the root of eō (“to go”).^[11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Latin charter of 947 already has the Romance-coloured ad ipso comide “to that count”, and Houaiss's first date, 1032, is a Latin charter with comde.^[6][2] In Galician-Portuguese the word is recorded from the 13th century.^[3] The Cantigas de Santa Maria name o Conde de Peiteus “the Count of Poitou” and pair conde nen rey “count nor king”, and the Crónica Troiana writes nen sey sse he rrey nen se conde nen se duque “I don't know whether he is a king, a count or a duke”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau explains that Latin comes gained the meaning only as Latin was dying out: it was given to the companions of the emperors and their generals, and under Justinian to holders of high court offices.^[13] Viterbo notes that the Visigothic Code speaks of counts and dukes as military chiefs who were also judges.^[14] Morais (1813) defines the title as ranking between viscount and marquis, and records conde palatino, a title given to retired university lecturers.^[15]

Popular senses grew beside the title: the jack of playing cards, recorded by Silva Bastos and Figueiredo and now regional in Portugal;^{[16][17][18][19][20]} pêra do conde, a large pear; and the head of a band of gipsies.^{[16][17][18][19][20]}

Timeline

• 947 – a Latin charter has ad ipso comide.^[6]
• 1032 – comde in a Latin charter.^[2]
• 13th century – first Galician-Portuguese records; the Cantigas de Santa Maria name the Count of Poitou.^[3][6]
• 13th century – first record of the feminine condessa.^[3]
• 14th century – the spelling cõde;^[21] quonde follows in the 15th.^[2]
• 1390–1437 – the Horto do Esposo uses the word.^[21]
• 1611 – Barbosa glosses it with Latin comes.^[22]
• 1813 – Morais records conde palatino.^[15]
• 1899 – Figueiredo records the popular sense “jack”.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. (history) In the late Roman Empire, a dignitary of the emperor's council or court, or a military commander.^[2][18]
2. (history) In the Middle Ages, the lord who commanded or ruled a territory, a condado.^[2][23][18]
3. A count or earl, a title of nobility above visconde and below marquês.^[2][18][1]
4. (card games, regional) The jack, valete.^[18][23]
5. The leader of a band of gipsies (ciganos).^[20][24]

Word family

• condado
• condessa

Related words

• Latin comes
• Spanish conde

Usage notes

Houaiss has a separate noun conde, the name of a Bantu language of Mozambique spoken between the Rovuma and Lindi rivers and on the north-western shore of Lake Niassa.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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. conde
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. conde
4. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. conde
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 131
6. ^ a b c d e 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. conde
7. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 170
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. comes
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2078
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. comte
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. comes
12. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. comes
13. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. conde
14. ^ 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, 300
15. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 438
16. ^ a b Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. conde
17. ^ a b c Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. conde
18. ^ a b c d e f 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. conde
19. ^ 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. conde
20. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. conde
21. ^ a b Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. conde
22. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. conde
23. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. conde
24. ^ 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. conde