data

Forms

data f (plural datas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin data (“given”), the feminine of datus, past participle of dō (“to give”).^[2][3][1] Medieval documents ended with a formula in which this participle, “given” (understood: littera (“letter”) or charta (“charter”)) followed by the place and the day on which the letter or charter was issued, so the word came to name that indication itself.^[2][3][4][5] Houaiss and Cunha date the Portuguese word to the 13th century.^[2][3]

The same Medieval Latin word gave French date, borrowed in 1281 with the same history.^[6] Wiktionary lists dado and dada as Portuguese doublets of the word, from the same Latin participle.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 13th century.^[2][3] A cantiga of the Cantigas de Santa Maria (182) has que feit' era a data, where the editor glosses data doubtfully as “gift”, noting that the context is not clear.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712–1728) defines the word as what is added to a paper to state the day on which it was written, and gives phrases such as pôr a data.^[8] Morais (1813) adds the figurative de boa data “in a good humour” and keeps the sense “act of giving, a gift”, which Houaiss dates to 1625.^[9][2]

The sense of giving led to the informal uses “a portion given at one time” and “a great quantity” (uma data de “a lot of”), and in Portugal “a thrashing”, which Houaiss dates to 1893.^[2][5][10] Portuguese regional glossaries record it as “gift” and, around Vinhais, as “beating”.^[11] In Brazil the word named the portions into which gold mines were divided in colonial times, and now a gold or diamond working and, in Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Paraná, a building plot of a fixed size.^[2][12]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records, according to Houaiss and Cunha.^[2][3]
• 1513 – the Livro dos Mártires uses the word.^[13]
• 1625 – first record of the sense “gift, favour”.^[2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines the date of a letter.^[8]
• 1813 – Morais records the date of a letter and the sense “act of giving”.^[9]
• 1893 – first record of the informal sense “beating”.^[2]
• 1896 – first record of data de água, the army's water ration for the horses.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A date: the day, month and year on which something happens or will happen.^[2][14][1]
2. The indication of that day written on a letter, document, coin or publication.^[2][14]
3. A period, time or epoch.^[2][14]
4. (dated) The act of giving; something given, a gift.^[2][15]
5. (informal) A large amount: uma data de “a lot of”.^[2][14][1]
6. A fixed portion or ration of something, such as salt given to cattle.^[2][16]
7. (Portugal, informal) A thrashing, beating.^[2][15]
8. (Brazil) A gold or diamond working.^[2][14]
9. (Brazil: Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Paraná) A building plot of about 20 by 40 metres.^[2][14][1]
10. (law) The handing of the case files, with the judge's order, to the clerk.^[2][15]

Word family

• datar
• datação
• data-limite

Related words

• dado
• dada
• dar
• Latin datus
• French date

Usage notes

Houaiss records a separate noun data in Goa, first in 1846: the trousseau and jewels added to the dowry that a bride brings with her, from a Konkani word deném.^[2] Dalgado, who records the same Goan sense, explains that the Konkani term corresponds to Latin donum “gift”.^[17]

The phrases de longa data and de velha data mean “of long standing”.^[15]

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 u v Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. data
3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. data
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. data
5. ^ 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. data
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. date
7. ^ 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. data
8. ^ 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. data
9. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 511
10. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. data
11. ^ 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. data
12. ^ 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. data
13. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. data
14. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. data
15. ^ a b c d Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. data
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. data
17. ^ Dalgado, Sebastião Rodolfo (1919–1921), Glossário luso-asiático, 2 vols., Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade, p. 1, 351