corredor

Forms

corredor m (plural corredores, feminine corredora, feminine plural corredoras)^[1] Houaiss records the spelling coredor in the 15th century, and a private letter of 1619 still writes it so.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Portuguese correr + -dor, literally “one who runs”.^[1][4][5] Houaiss analyses it as the stem of the participle corrido with the theme vowel of the second conjugation and the suffix -or.^[2]

For the noun “passage” Nascentes derived it from Italian corridore (“covered way”), a term of fortification; the first edition of Aurélio followed him, but the later Aurélio, Nascentes's fuller dictionary and the DLP derive every sense from correr.^{[6][7][4][8][5]} The Italian word is itself from Vulgar Latin *curritor, from currō (“to run”), and is recorded from the second half of the 12th century.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's chronology has the word in a Latin text of 1188–1230 in the Portugaliae Monumenta Historica, totos los corredores qui corrirent.^[10] In Galician-Portuguese it appears as an adjective, “swift”: Alfonso X mocks one who rides off on his alfaraz corredor “swift horse”, and the Cantigas de Santa Maria speak of navios ligeyros e corredores “light and swift ships”.^[10] The Crónica Troiana calls two dromedaries moy corredores.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The old dictionaries give first the person or animal that runs: Cardoso in 1569 translates it with Latin cursor, and Morais in 1789 has only the adjective “that runs well”, as of a horse.^[11][12] Barbosa in 1611 already pairs it with varanda, a gallery.^[13] Bluteau cites a Gazeta de Lisboa of 1720 for the corredores of the bar of Lisbon, narrow channels of current dangerous to ships.^[14] Morais in 1813 adds the passage between the rooms of a house, the scout who rides ahead, and the covered way of a fortification.^[15]

Later senses include the racer in sport, the paths between the salt pans, a lane of a swimming pool in Portugal and, figuratively, the corridors of power where deals are made.^[2][16] In Rio Grande do Sul a corredor is a road fenced off between fields for driving cattle, and in the north-east of Brazil it is the shin bone of an ox, prized for its marrow.^[17][18][2]

Timeline

• 1188–1230 – corredores in a Latin legal text.^[10]
• 13th century – the adjective “swift” in the cantigas.^[2][10]
• 15th century – the spelling coredor.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso translates it with Latin cursor.^[11]
• 1611 – Barbosa gives corredor, ou varanda.^[13]
• 1720 – the corredores of the bar of Lisbon, cited by Bluteau.^[14]
• 1813 – Morais records the passage in a house and the covered way of a fortification.^[15]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That runs, or runs fast: uma égua corredora.^[2][4]

Noun

1. A runner, someone who takes part in races on foot, on horseback, by car and so on.^[2][1]
2. (architecture) A corridor, a long narrow passage inside a building that connects rooms: Os quartos ficam ao fundo do corredor.^[2][5]
3. An aisle in a bus, train or aircraft; a narrow gallery round a building; any narrow way.^[5][2]
4. (fortification) A covered way.^[2][19]
5. A narrow and dangerous channel of current at the bar or mouth of a river.^[4][16]
6. Each of the paths between the beds of a salt pan.^[2][16]
7. (figurative, usually plural) The corridors of power, where unofficial deals are made: nos corredores do ministério.^[2]
8. (Portugal) A lane in a swimming pool or on a track.^[2]
9. (southern Brazil) A road between fences across cattle land.^[2][17]
10. (north-eastern Brazil) The shin bone of an ox, rich in marrow (tutano).^[2][18]

Related words

• correr
• corrida
• corrente
• Italian corridore
• Spanish corredor

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 n o p Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. corredor
3. ^ 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. corredor
4. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. corredor
5. ^ a b c d 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. corredor
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. corredor
7. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda (1975), Novo dicionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, p. 412
8. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 137
9. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ 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. corredor
11. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. corredor
12. ^ 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, 333
13. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. corredor
14. ^ 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. corredor
15. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 475
16. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2488
17. ^ a b Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. corredor
18. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. corredor
19. ^ 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. corredor