crença

Forms

crença f (plural crenças)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote creença and creeça.^[2][3] crença with one e appears in the 14th century, and the 15th century also has crenca.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Medieval Latin crēdentia (“belief, faith”), written Old Galician-Portuguese creença in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] Houaiss, Cunha and Nascentes call the Latin word medieval, Wiktionary Late Latin.^[2][3][4][1] Nascentes describes the Portuguese word as semi-learned.^[2][3][4][1]

The same Latin noun is Galician crenza, Spanish creencia, Catalan creença, French croyance, Italian credenza and Romanian credință.^[5][1] The Latin word is formed on crēdēns, the present participle of crēdō (“to entrust, believe”); the DLP takes it from the neuter plural of the participle.^[1][6] De Vaan traces the verb to Proto-Indo-European *ḱred-dʰeh₁- (“to place in the heart”), a compound shared with Celtic and Indo-Iranian words for belief.^[7]

Wiktionary notes that within Portuguese the word can also be read as crer with the suffix -ença, and names the learned doublets credência and credença.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Cantigas de Santa Maria of the 13th century the word already means religious faith and confident belief: a mother is told that her husband came back to life pola ta firme creença e por ta gran devoçon “through your firm faith and your great devotion”.^[8][2] In the Crónica Troiana it is a belief about oneself (each goddess ten tal creença that the apple is hers by beauty), and a troubadour's quant' é mia creença means “in my opinion”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In medieval chancery language a carta de creença was a letter that made its bearer believed, a letter of credence; the Crónica Geral and the books of the council of Santiago use it.^[8] Bluteau (1712) gives both the doctrine a religion believes and the carta de crença, and Morais (1813) the act of believing, faith and the same letter.^[9][10] Houaiss records the plural crenças as an old word for credentials.^[2]

The modern senses run from the mental state of believing to religious faith, a doctrine or myth, a conviction without rational grounds and an opinion firmly held; philosophy uses it for medieval faith and for the empiricists' habit of taking something as true.^[2][11] In informal European Portuguese it can mean a romantic inclination, or the opposite of trust, a suspicion; the Porto dictionary also gives it as a popular word for superstition or a whim.^[2][12]

Timeline

• 13th century – creença in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[8]
• 14th century – the spelling crença.^[2][3]
• 1513 – crença in the Livro dos Mártires.^[13]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders crença by Latin credulitas.^[14]
• 1611 – Barbosa explains it as credulity, readiness to believe.^[15]
• 1712 – Bluteau defines it as the doctrine of a religion and records carta de crença.^[9]
• 1813 – Morais has the act of believing, faith and the letter of credence.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or state of believing; the mental attitude of someone who accepts something as true: Tinha crença no futuro do país.^[2][11]
2. Religious faith.^[2][16][6]
3. A religious or mystical doctrine or myth, mostly in the plural: as crenças dos antigos.^[2][11]
4. A deep conviction without rational grounds in someone or something.^[2]
5. An opinion held with faith and assurance.^[2][12]
6. What or whom one believes in; the object of a belief.^[2][11]
7. (Portugal, informal) A romantic attraction to someone.^[2]
8. (Portugal, informal) Lack of trust; suspicion.^[2]
9. (philosophy) In medieval thought, religious faith seen as compatible with reason; in modern empiricism, a subjective disposition to hold something true out of habit.^[2]
10. (obsolete, in the plural) Credentials (credencial).^[2]

Word family

• descrença
• crendice

Related words

• crer
• crente
• credência
• credença
• Latin crēdentia
• Spanish creencia

Usage notes

Carta de crença “letter of credence” is the old name of the credentials (credencial) an envoy presents.^[12][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 q r s t Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. crença
3. ^ a b c d e f Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. crença
4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. crença
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2306
6. ^ 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. crença
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c d 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. creença
9. ^ 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. crença
10. ^ a b c Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 493
11. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. crença
12. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2559
13. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. crença
14. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. crença
15. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. crença
16. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. crença