condestável

Forms

condestável m (plural condestáveis)^[1] The oldest Portuguese records have condestabre (1387) and, in the 15th century, cõde estabre and comdeestabre.^[2] Vieira notes that condestable and condestabre were still in use in the 17th century.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French conestable, with its first syllable remade on conde “count”.^[1][4][5][6] The French word goes back to Late Latin comes stabulī (“officer of the stable”), whose second word is the genitive of stabulum (“stable”); in French the /m/ of the Latin noun became /n/ by dissimilation from the following /b/, and the word is recorded from about 1155.^[7] Houaiss gives a different account, without French: the Latin phrase was fused into a single word in Medieval Latin and developed in Portuguese through a form Old Galician-Portuguese *condestáble into condestabre and the modern form.^[2] Nascentes adds that the ending was influenced by the suffix -vel.^[5] Feijó in 1734 defended the ending -ável against condestable, since the adjective is estável in Portuguese.^[8]

The same Latin title is Spanish condestable and French connétable.^[9][7] comes (“companion”) is a compound of com- (“together”) and the root of eō (“to go”), literally “one who goes with”.^[10][11] Under the late Empire the holder of this title was the master of the horse, and the title then passed to an officer of the Carolingian court.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record, from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese, is condestabre in 1387.^[2] In the 14th century the word named the highest military rank in the army of Portugal, below only the king's own command.^[2] Vieira writes that the office was created in Portugal in 1382 by King Fernando, and names Nuno Álvares Pereira as its holder.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From the commander of the army the word passed to lesser offices: in the 17th and 18th centuries, in Portugal and in colonial Brazil, the condestável was the corporal who aimed and directed the guns, and later the chief gunner of a fortress or a ship.^[2][12] From the reign of João IV the title was also an honour of a few of the greatest lords of the court, who held the drawn sword before the king at royal oaths.^[2] The dictionaries of the late 19th century give the court title as one borne by an infante, who stood at the right of the throne on great occasions.^[13][4] The older sense, master of the royal stables, is kept only as history.^[12]

Timeline

• 1382 – the office of condestável is created in Portugal, according to Vieira.^[3]
• 1387 – first record, spelt condestabre.^[2]
• 15th century – the spellings cõde estabre and comdeestabre.^[2]
• 1621 – cöndestabel in a private letter.^[14]
• 1697 – Pereira's Thesouro glosses condestavel with a Latin comes stabilis.^[15]
• 1734 – Feijó prefers condestável to condestable.^[8]
• 1871 – Vieira derives the word from conde and Latin stabuli.^[3]
• 1899 – Figueiredo lists the old commander, the chief gunner and the court title.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. (history) The supreme commander of the army of Portugal, the first dignitary of the kingdom after the king; constable.^{[2][4][12][1]}
2. (history) Formerly, the master of the horse, superintendent of the royal stables.^[12][16]
3. (history) In the 17th and 18th centuries, the corporal in charge of aiming the guns; the chief of the gunners in a fortress or on a ship.^[2][12][4]
4. (history) An honorary title of the court, held by an infante or a great lord who stood at the right of the throne on solemn occasions.^[2][4][12]
5. A person who held that rank or title.^[2]

Related words

• conde
• estábulo
• Spanish condestable
• French connétable

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 j k l Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. condestável
3. ^ a b c d 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, 385
4. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. condestável
5. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. condestável
6. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2312
7. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. connétable
8. ^ a b 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. condestável
9. ^ 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. condestable
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. comes
12. ^ 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. condestável
13. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. condestável
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. condestável
15. ^ 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. condestavel
16. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. condestável