contente

Forms

contente m or f (plural contentes, comparable, comparative mais contente, superlative o mais contente or contentíssimo)^[1] In the 14th and 15th centuries contente coexisted with contento (also cõtepto, feminine cõtenta), which the dictionaries now mark as obsolete.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin contentus (“contained; content, satisfied”), the past participle of contineō (“to hold together, contain”), a compound of teneō (“to hold”).^{[4][5][6][1][7]} Corominas considers the word probably a Latinism or semi-learned word in all the Romance languages.^[7]

Old Portuguese had two adjectives side by side: Old Galician-Portuguese contento, recorded from the 13th century, and the form with final ⟨-e⟩.^[3][2][8] Cunha calls the latter a divergent form of the former.^[4] Houaiss thinks the ending is probably due to the formal influence of French content, which French had from the 13th century, and Priberam derives the word from French outright.^[2][9] Nascentes says the ⟨-e⟩ remains a problem for etymologists; in his fuller dictionary he reports Meyer-Lübke's derivation through Catalan content and suggests the influence of the antonym triste or of the synonym alegre.^[10][11]

The word corresponds to Galician contento, Spanish contento, Italian contento and Romanian content.^[1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The chronicle of 1344 uses both forms in the same text: the knights are sent home o mais contentes que elle pode “as contented as he could make them”, and a lord nõ fosse contento de seer senhor de tal terra “would not be content to be lord of such a land”.^[8] Houaiss dates the word from that year through Cunha's medieval index.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is “satisfied”, content with what one has;^[12] Bluteau (1712–1728) gives both “glad” and “satisfied, wanting nothing more”, and the proverb that being content with what one has is the greatest riches.^[13] An old sense, “that gives joy”, is recorded by Aulete's first edition with Camões's cor contente “a cheerful colour”, and by Michaelis.^[14][15] Today the main sense is “happy, glad”.^[14][9][6]

Regional surveys in Portugal record it as “pleasant, affable” of a person and as “tipsy”.^[16] It is also a surname, at first a nickname.^[12] The antonym descontente is recorded from the 16th century.^[4]

Timeline

• 1344 – the chronicle has contentes beside contento.^[8]
• c. 1450 – contente in the Livro das tres vertudes (witness after 1450).^[17]
• 1542 – a private letter has cõtẽte.^[18]
• 16th century – descontente.^[4]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau: “glad” and “satisfied”.^[13]
• 1789 – Morais: satisfied, with pleasure and approval.^[19]

Meanings

Adjective

1. happy, glad; showing joy: Os miúdos ficaram contentes com a viagem.^{[14][9][6][1]}
2. content, satisfied; wanting nothing more: contente com pouco.^[9][5][1]
3. (obsolete) Causing joy or satisfaction.^[15][14]
4. (Portugal, regional) Pleasant, affable.^[16]
5. (Portugal, regional) tipsy.^[16]

Word family

• descontente

Related words

• contento
• contentar
• contentamento
• conter

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. contente
3. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. contento
4. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. contento
5. ^ 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. contente
6. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2394
7. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 181
8. ^ 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. contente
9. ^ a b c d Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. contente
10. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. contente
11. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. s.v. contente
12. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1952), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 2: Nomes próprios, Rio de Janeiro, p. s.v. contente
13. ^ 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. contente
14. ^ a b c d 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. contente
15. ^ 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. contente
16. ^ a b c Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. contente
17. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. contente
18. ^ 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. contente
19. ^ 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, 318