crueldade

Forms

crueldade f (plural crueldades)^[1] Old texts also write crualdade, cualdade, cruelldade and cruevildade.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin crūdēlitās (“cruelty”), written Old Galician-Portuguese crueldade in the oldest texts.^[2][4][1] Nascentes calls it semi-learned.^[5]

The same Latin word gave Galician crueldade, Spanish crueldad, Catalan crueltat, Old Occitan cruzeldat and Italian crudeltà.^[6][1] In French, cruauté is either a French formation from cruel or a Vulgar Latin variant of the Latin noun.^[7]

The Latin noun is formed from crūdēlis (“cruel”), and that from crūdus (“raw, bloody, rough”); the further origin of the adjective is uncertain, and de Vaan discusses several reconstructions.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria have mui gran crueldade “very great cruelty” and say a leg was cut off con crueldade “cruelly”.^[3] The Crónica Troiana uses the plural for cruel deeds: As mortes et as crueldades que ali forõ feytas “the deaths and cruel acts that were done there”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word meant both the quality and the cruel act from the start.^[3] Bluteau's book of synonyms gives sevicia, fereza, tyrannia and barbaridade, and calls cruelty the vice opposed to magnanimity.^[9] Vieira adds the inclination to shed blood or to see it shed.^[10] Houaiss extends it to things that cause suffering: the harshness of a drought, or the cruelty of fate.^[2]

Timeline

• 13th century – crueldade in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[3][4]
• 14th century – the variants cualdade, cruelldade and cruevildade.^[2]
• c. 1430 – the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437) uses the word.^[11]
• 1569 – Cardoso translates it with Latin saevitia and inhumanitas.^[12]
• 1611 – Barbosa gives Latin crudelitas.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality of being cruel; pleasure in causing pain or suffering.^[2][14][1]
2. A cruel act; an atrocity: Os soldados cometeram crueldades na aldeia.^[2][14]
3. Harshness, severity, as of a climate or of fate.^[2][14]
4. Cold indifference to others' suffering; inhumanity.^[2][15]

Related words

• cruel
• cru
• crueza
• Latin crūdēlitās
• Spanish crueldad

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. crueldade
3. ^ 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. crueldade
4. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. cru
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. crueldade
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2342
7. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. cruauté
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. crueldade
10. ^ Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 2, 647
11. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. crueldade
12. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. crueldade
13. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. crueldade
14. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. crueldade
15. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. crueldade