convento

Forms

convento m (plural conventos)^[1] Medieval texts write cõuento (1273) and comueto (1292).^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin conventus (“assembly, gathering”), a learned word.^[2][3] Wiktionary treats it as inherited, through Old Galician-Portuguese convento.^[1] The Latin noun is formed from conveniō (“to come together”) with the suffix -tus, and also meant a place of assembly or a court.^[2][4] In Christian Latin it came to mean the community of monks.^[5][3]

The same Latin word gave Spanish convento, a learned word beside the inherited Old Spanish conviento “agreement”, and French couvent.^[6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the first record to 1273, spelt cõuento.^[2] In the Cantigas de Santa Maria the word means the community of monks: O convento atendia / o syno “the convent awaited the bell”, de monges gran convento “a great community of monks”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The medieval word meant the community itself, as in a Santiago document about the expenses of o convento do dito mosteiro “the community of the said monastery” for a general chapter.^[7] Bluteau (1712–1728) distinguishes the convento of friars and nuns from the mosteiro of monks, and records the Roman convento jurídico, the judicial district.^[8] Morais (1789) defines it as the cloister of religious men or women.^[9]

Figurative senses followed: a gloomy house or one where people live in strict seclusion, a very large house, and in Brazilian slang a prison.^[2][10][11] The word passed into Kristang as konventu.^[1]

Timeline

• 1273 – cõuento.^[2]
• 13th century – the Cantigas de Santa Maria use convento for a community of monks.^[7]
• 1292 – the spelling comueto.^[2]
• 1697 – Pereira renders it with Latin coenobium and conventus.^[12]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau distinguishes convento from mosteiro.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A convent or monastery, the house of a religious community.^[2][10][1]
2. The community of religious who live in it.^[2][10]
3. The religious life led there; clausura.^[2]
4. (figurative) A house with strict rules and no amusements.^[2][13]
5. (figurative) A very large house.^[10][13]
6. (Brazil, slang) A prison.^[2][11]
7. (history) A judicial division of the Roman Empire.^[2][14]

Word family

• conventual

Related words

• convir
• convenção
• mosteiro
• Latin conventus
• Spanish convento

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 m Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. convento
3. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. convento
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. conuentus
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. couvent
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. conventus
7. ^ 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. convento
8. ^ 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. convento
9. ^ 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, 325
10. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. convento
11. ^ 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. convento
12. ^ 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. convento
13. ^ 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. convento
14. ^ 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. convento