costume

costume¹ custom, habit

Pronunciation

• Brazil: /kusˈtũ.mi/, /kosˈtũ.mi/^[1]
• Rio-de-Janeiro: /kuʃˈtũ.mi/, /koʃˈtũ.mi/^[1]
• Portugal: /kuʃˈtu.mɨ/^[1]

Forms

costume m (plural costumes)^[1] Houaiss records custume in 1262, costume in 1275, costome in 1296, and coustume and custue in the 15th century.^[2]

Etymology

The word for a custom or habit is inherited from Vulgar Latin *consuetumen (“custom”), an alteration of Latin cōnsuētūdō (“custom, habit, usage”) in which the suffix was replaced, through a form like *costumine.^[2][3][4] Houaiss calls the change of ending pan-Romance, and Corominas notes that it is shared by all the Romance languages and by every word in the suffix.^[2][5] The oldest texts write Old Galician-Portuguese costume and Old Galician-Portuguese custume.^[2][6]

The same Latin word is Galician costume, Spanish costumbre, Catalan costum, Occitan costum, Italian costume and French coutume.^[5][1] The Latin noun had feminine gender, kept in Spanish and French, while Portuguese, Galician, Italian and Catalan made it masculine.^[5][4]

The Latin noun is derived from cōnsuēscō (“to become accustomed”), itself from con- and suēscō (“to become used to”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is custume in 1262, from Cunha's medieval index.^[2] In the Cantigas de Santa Maria it already has the senses of today: com'é nosso costume “as is our custom”, ca atal é seu costume “for such is his habit”, aver por costume “to be in the habit of”.^[6] The Galician Crónica Troiana tells of the feyturas et os custumes “the features and the customs” of those who besieged Troy.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In medieval law the word meant a local rule established by usage; the records of the town council of Santiago use it for the customary law of the municipality.^[6] Cardoso (1569) renders it with Latin mos, and Barbosa (1611) with mos and consuetudo.^[7][8] Bluteau (1712–1728) defines it as something introduced and practised according to the habit of people or the usage of places.^[9] Morais (1789) adds the plural for moral conduct, as in moço de bons costumes “a well-behaved young man”.^[10] Old and legal senses include a tax regularly paid at the customs house and, in a witness's testimony, his ties of kinship or enmity with a party, hence às de costume “to the usual questions”.^[2][11] In Brazil it is also an informal word for menstruation.^[2][12]

Timeline

• 1262 – custume.^[2]
• 1275 – costume; 1296 costome.^[2]
• 13th century – aver por costume in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[6][3]
• 1416 – Vida do Cativo Monge Confesso.^[13]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders it with Latin mos.^[7]
• 1789 – Morais records the plural for moral conduct.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A habit, a regular practice: Ela tem o costume de ler antes de dormir.^[2][12][1]
2. (often in the plural) The ways of thinking and acting of a people, group or period; customs, conduct.^[2][14][1]
3. fashion, a usage adopted for a time: o costume das saias curtas.^[2][12]
4. (law) Custom as unwritten law, based on usage rather than statute.^[2][14][1]
5. A peculiarity or tendency of a thing: Esta porta tem o costume de emperrar.^[2][15]
6. (law) A witness's relationship of kinship, friendship or enmity with the person the testimony concerns.^[2][14]
7. (Brazil, informal) menstruation.^[2][12]
8. (obsolete) A duty regularly paid at the customs.^[2]

Word family

• costumar
• costumeiro
• acostumar
• desacostumar
• costumado

costume² suit, outfit

Pronunciation

• Brazil: /kusˈtũ.mi/, /kosˈtũ.mi/^[1]
• Rio-de-Janeiro: /kuʃˈtũ.mi/, /koʃˈtũ.mi/^[1]
• Portugal: /kuʃˈtu.mɨ/^[1]

Forms

costume m (plural costumes)^[1]

Etymology

The word for a suit or outfit is borrowed from French costume.^{[2][12][4][15]} The French word was itself taken from Italian costume (“custom”), used in painting for the manner of showing a figure's age, rank and period; it came to mean the way of dressing proper to a condition or period in 1747, and a person's set of clothes, as in a theatre costume, in 1777.^[16] The Italian word goes back to the same Latin cōnsuētūdō as costume¹.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The original Caldas Aulete records the Brazilian senses “man's suit of trousers, jacket and sometimes waistcoat” and “woman's suit of jacket and skirt”.^[15] Aurélio marks both as Brazilian.^[12] Houaiss treats the theatrical sense as obsolete.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Brazil) A man's suit of trousers, jacket and sometimes waistcoat.^[2][12][15]
2. (Brazil) A woman's suit of jacket and skirt, usually of the same cloth.^[2][12]
3. Clothing suited to an occasion, especially to formal occasions: um costume de cerimónia.^[2][12][1]
4. (theatre, obsolete) A stage costume.^[2][12]