credo

Forms

credo m (plural credos)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin crēdō (“I believe”), the first person singular present of the Latin verb, the first word of the Creed (⟨Credo in unum Deum⟩ “I believe in one God”), which became the name of the prayer.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The interjection is the same word.^[6][1] The inherited form of the Latin verb is creio, from crer, and Wiktionary calls the two doublets.^[1] Spanish credo is recorded from 1565 and French credo from about 1190.^[7][8] The REW notes that the word passed from the Mass into the vernaculars.^[9]

The Latin verb goes back to *krezdō and to Proto-Indo-European *ḱred-dʰeh₁- (“to place one's heart, to trust”), a phrase of the word for “heart” and *dʰeh₁- (“to put”); its cognates include creitid (“believes”).^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the noun to the 14th century, from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese, in the sense of the Christian prayer.^[2] Cunha's own first date is 1570.^[3] The Vida de Santa Maria Egipcíaca, in a witness of 1431–1446, also has it.^[11]

Semantic evolution

From the prayer the word came to mean the short time it takes to say it: the REW cites the Portuguese phrase em um credo “in an instant”.^[2][9] It also names the part of the Mass that begins with the prayer, and a musical setting of it.^[2][12] Houaiss notes that the senses “religious belief” and, by extension, a political or philosophical creed are much later.^[2] Bluteau (1712–1728) still calls it a Latin word for the Apostles' Creed.^[13] The old Caldas Aulete and Figueiredo (1899) have the senses “programme of a party” and the interjection of fright.^[14][15] Michaelis calls the interjection popular.^[16]

Timeline

• 14th century – Houaiss's first record.^[2]
• 1431–1446 – credo in the Vida de Santa Maria Egipcíaca.^[11]
• 1570 – Cunha's date for the noun.^[3]
• 1596 – credo in a private letter.^[17]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses it Symbolum Apostolorum.^[18]
• 1899 – Figueiredo records the senses “rule; programme of a party” and the interjection.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Christianity) The Creed, the prayer that begins in Latin with the word credo and states the articles of the Catholic faith; also creio-em-deus-padre.^{[2][12][5][19]}
2. (liturgy) The part of the Mass that begins with this prayer, said or sung; a musical setting of it.^[2][12][5]
3. The short time it takes to say the Creed; an instant.^[2][19][14]
4. Religious faith; a profession of faith.^[2][12]
5. A creed: the principles or beliefs by which a person, a party or a group is guided: o credo liberal.^{[2][12][20][1]}

Interjection

1. (informal) Expresses fright, surprise or disgust: Credo! Que cheiro é este?^{[2][12][21][5][1]}

Related words

• crer
• creio
• crença
• crédito
• Latin crēdō
• Spanish credo

Usage notes

Com o credo na boca (Portugal) means “in great danger, badly frightened”, and como Pilatos no credo is said of someone caught up in a matter not of his making.^[2][20][19] Credo em cruz strengthens the interjection.^[12][22] Some Portuguese dialects say credo! to someone who sneezes, and have the variant queredo.^[22]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. credo
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. crer
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. credo
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. credo
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. credo!
7. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. creer
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. credo
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2308a
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. credo
12. ^ a b c d e f g Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. credo
13. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. credo
14. ^ 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. credo
15. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 360
16. ^ 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. credo!
17. ^ 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. credo
18. ^ 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. credo
19. ^ a b c 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. credo
20. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2556
21. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. credo
22. ^ a b 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. credo!