conselheiro

Forms

conselheiro (feminine conselheira, masculine plural conselheiros, feminine plural conselheiras)^[1] Medieval spellings are conselleyro (13th century), cõselleyro and cõsselleyro (14th century) and comsselheyro (15th century); conselheiro appears in the 14th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cōnsiliārius (“advising, counselling”), written Old Galician-Portuguese conselleyro in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] Nascentes takes it as a semi-learned word, Aurélio as a popular one.^[5][6] Vieira and Wiktionary also see it as conselho with the suffix -eiro.^[7][1] The learned doublet is consiliário.^[2]

The same Latin word is Galician conselleiro, Spanish consejero and Catalan conseller.^[8][1] The Latin adjective is formed from cōnsilium (“counsel”) with the suffix -ārius.^[9][1] In Medieval Latin it was the usual word for a member of a council and for a royal counsellor.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to the 13th century.^[2] Among the Galician-Portuguese texts, the Crónica Troiana says one could not be sen mao consselleyro “without a bad counsellor”, and the Chronicle of 1344 has como me meu padre mandou que vos ouvesse sempre por meu cõselleiro “as my father ordered me always to keep you as my counsellor”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From the start it meant both one who gives advice and a member of a lord's or king's council.^[4] Bluteau (1712) lists the conselheiro del-Rey and the conselheiro de Estado.^[12] Morais (1789) defines it as one who advises, said of certain persons who sit in the bodies called Conselhos.^[13] Camões uses it as an adjective in a lingua conselheira “the counselling tongue”.^[7]

In the last decades of the Portuguese monarchy and in the Empire of Brazil it was an honorary title granted for services to the State, the holder having the carta de conselho.^[2][14] It is also a rank in the diplomatic career (conselheiro de embaixada) and the title of the judges of certain high courts.^[2] Porto Editora records the modern sense of a professional counsellor in psychological or vocational guidance.^[2][15]

Timeline

• 13th century – first record, spelt conselleyro.^[2]
• 14th century – consselleyro in the Crónica Troiana and cõselleiro in the Chronicle of 1344; the spelling conselheiro appears.^[4][2]
• 1513 – the Livro dos Mártires.^[16]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary renders it with Latin consiliarius.^[17]
• 1712 – Bluteau lists the councillors of the king and of the State.^[12]
• 1789 – Morais's definition ties it to the bodies called Conselhos.^[13]
• 1899 – Figueiredo records the holder of the carta de conselho.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Giving advice; advisory.^[2][18][1]
2. Of or proper to a counsellor; conselheiral.^[2][6]

Noun

1. An adviser, counsellor, mentor: O avô foi sempre o seu melhor conselheiro.^[2][6][1]
2. A member of a council (conselho) or advisory body, or of certain courts: conselheiro de Estado.^[2][18]
3. (historical) An honorary title granted for services in the last years of the Portuguese monarchy and in the Empire of Brazil; one who held it.^[2][19]
4. (diplomacy) A rank between minister of the second class and first secretary (conselheiro de embaixada).^[2][19]
5. (Portugal) A professional counsellor in psychological, relationship or career guidance.^[15]

Word family

• conselheiral

Related words

• conselho
• aconselhar
• consiliário
• Latin cōnsiliārius
• Galician conselleiro
• Spanish consejero

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 e f g h i j k l m n o Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. conselheiro
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. conselho
4. ^ a b c d 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. conselleyro
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. conselheiro
6. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. conselheiro
7. ^ a b 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, 427
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. consiliarius
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. consiliārius
10. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. consiliarius
11. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. s.v. consiliarius
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. conselheiro
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, 313
14. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 334
15. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2360
16. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. conselheiro
17. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. conselheiro
18. ^ a b 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. conselheiro
19. ^ a b 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. conselheiro