dano

dano¹ damage

Etymology tree of dano¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin damnum

Italian danno

Portuguese dano

Spanish daño

French dam

Romanian daună

From the same root · dano¹

Latin damnō ← damnum

Latin damnōsus ← damnum

Latin indemnis ← damnum

Romanian dăunos ← damnum

Romanian dăuna ← daună

Pronunciation

• Brazil: /ˈdɐ̃.nu/^[1]
• Portugal: /ˈdɐ.nu/^[1]
• Northern, Portugal: /ˈda.nu/^[1]

Forms

dano m (plural danos)^[1] The Crónica Troiana writes dapno beside dano.^[2] From the 16th century to the 19th the etymological spelling damno competed with dano: Bluteau heads the word dano, ou damno, ou danno, Vieira refers dano to damno, and Figueiredo calls dano the same as damno or the better spelling.^[3][4][5]

Etymology

The word for damage is inherited from Latin damnum (“loss, expense”), written Old Galician-Portuguese dano in the oldest texts.^[6][7][8][1]

The same Latin word is Galician dano, Spanish daño, Catalan dany, Italian danno, Romanian daună and French dam; the everyday French word dommage is a derivative of it.^[9][1]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Italic *dapnom, from Proto-Indo-European *dh₂pnóm (“expense, investment”).^[10][1] Wiktionary takes this from the root *deh₂p- (“to sacrifice, to lose”), which also gave daps (“sacrificial meal, feast”), and compares Ancient Greek δαπάνη (dapánē, “cost, expenditure”).^[1][11] Lewis & Short explained the Latin word instead as an old participle of dō (“to give”), and thought the link with the Greek noun less likely.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to 1152, from the Portugaliae Monumenta Historica.^[6] The first vernacular record in the DDGM is a charter of 1228 that speaks of os danos que feçer “the damages he may cause”.^[2] In the cantigas of the Cancioneiro da Ajuda the word means harm or loss: Martin Soarez has tẽer dano “to suffer harm” and Johan Soarez Coelho fazer dano “to do harm”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the medieval lyric dano is harm, misfortune and loss, and it forms set phrases: Estevan da Guarda has meter a dano “to harm” and viir a dano “to come to harm”, and the Cantigas de Santa Maria have ir a dano “to be ruined”.^[2][13] Notarial books of Noia from 1390 pair it with perjuýso “prejudice” in the legal formula sem dano et perjuýso.^[2]

Morais's dictionary of 1789 adds the theological pena do dano, the punishment of the damned, who are deprived of the sight of God;^[14][15] Priberam still lists this sense.^[14][15] The legal sense, any loss to a person's property or rights caused by another, is labelled as law by the original Caldas Aulete, and Houaiss lists a long series of legal terms such as dano emergente and dano moral.^[16][6]

In Rio Grande do Sul the word also means sorcery or the evil eye, a sense Schlee traces to the Spanish of the River Plate.^[17] The sense “damage dealt by a weapon or unit” in video games and role-playing games is a semantic loan from damage.^[1]

Timeline

• 1152 – the first date Houaiss gives, from the Portugaliae Monumenta Historica.^[6]
• 1228 – os danos que feçer in a charter.^[2]
• 13th century – tẽer dano and fazer dano in the cantigas of the Cancioneiro da Ajuda.^[2][7]
• 1390 – sem dano et perjuýso in a notarial book of Noia.^[2]
• c. 1430 – the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437) uses the word.^[18]
• 1569 – Cardoso translates Dano as Latin damnum and detrimentum.^[19]
• 1712 – Bluteau gives the spellings dano, damno and danno.^[3]
• 1789 – Morais records pena do dano.^[14]
• 1899 – Figueiredo prefers dano to damno.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Harm or an injury done to a person; a moral wrong: Aquela mentira causou-lhe grande dano.^[6][20][21]
2. damage to a thing: breakage, a dent, a scratch, deterioration or loss of quality: A geada fez danos nas vinhas.^[6][20][1]
3. (law) Any reduction of a person's legal assets, especially a financial or property loss caused by another's act or omission;^[6][15][21] perdas e danos “losses and damages”.^[6][15][21]
4. (Catholic theology) The pain of loss, the deprivation of the sight of God that the damned suffer.^[15][14]
5. (video games, role-playing games) Damage, the number of hit points a weapon or unit deals or takes.^[1]

dano² Danish, Dane

Pronunciation

• Brazil: /ˈdɐ̃.nu/^[1]
• Portugal: /ˈdɐ.nu/^[1]
• Northern, Portugal: /ˈda.nu/^[1]

Forms

dano (feminine dana, masculine plural danos, feminine plural danas, not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

The word for a Dane is borrowed from Latin Dani (“the Danes”), a learned borrowing.^[6][1] The DLP and Aurélio derive it instead from French danois.^[21][20] The Latin name is borrowed from Proto-Germanic *daniz.^[1] The French adjective, recorded from 1080, goes back to Frankish *Danisk-, built on the same name.^[22]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the noun, a member of the Danes, to 1572.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (historical) Of the Danes, the people of the Cimbric Chersonese.^[6][1]
2. Danish; the same as dinamarquês.^[6][21][1]

Noun

1. (historical) A member of the Danes.^[6][1]
2. A Dane.^[6][20][1]