deserto

Forms

deserto m (plural desertos)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dēsertus (“abandoned, deserted”), the past participle of dēserō (“to abandon, to forsake”), already used in Latin as a noun in the neuter dēsertum (“desert, wilderness”).^[2][1][3] The oldest texts write Old Galician-Portuguese deserto, as noun and adjective.^[4][1] Houaiss, Nascentes and the other Portuguese dictionaries name only the Latin source.^[2][5] Corominas and Pascual treat Spanish desierto as a word taken from Latin, and the DHLF calls French désert a loan from Latin too.^[6][7]

The same Latin word is Galician deserto, Catalan desert, Italian deserto and Romanian deșert.^[8][1] Meyer-Lübke derives the Portuguese sertão “back country” from it.^[8]

The Latin verb is formed with dē- from serō (“to join in a row, to bind”), and was first a military word, “to desert”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Cantigas de Santa Maria the noun names a wild, empty place where shepherds are found, pastores… / eran en esse deserto “shepherds were in that wilderness”, and the adjective qualifies life itself: daquest' amargosa / vida e deserta “of this bitter and forsaken life”.^[4] The Crónica Troiana uses the adjective for rich lands left despobradas et desertas “depopulated and deserted”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Until the 18th century the word meant above all an uninhabited place, a wilderness; the dictionaries gloss it with Latin eremus and solitudo, and Bluteau (1712–1728) with lugar não habitado.^[9][10][11] Modern dictionaries put first the geographical sense, an arid region with little rain and scant vegetation.^[2][12][13] In law an appeal is deserto when the appellant does not pursue it in time.^[14][2]

In European Portuguese estar deserto de means “to long to, to be eager for”, a popular sense Figueiredo already records in 1899.^[2][13][15] In southern Brazil the plural desertos names remote lands cut off from settled places.^[16]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records of the noun and the adjective, in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[2][4]
• c. 1433 – deserto in the Vita Christi.^[17]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses Deserto with Latin heremus and solitudo.^[9]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines it as an uninhabited place.^[11]
• 1813 – Morais has the noun “a lonely, unpeopled place”.^[18]
• 1899 – Figueiredo adds the popular sense “impatient, eager”.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. (geography) A desert, an arid region with scarce or irregular rain, little or no vegetation and few inhabitants.^[2][12][1]
2. An uninhabited or little-frequented place; a wilderness (ermo).^[2][19][20]
3. (figurative) solitude; a total lack of something: um deserto de ideias.^[2][13]

Adjective

1. Uninhabited, unpeopled: uma ilha deserta.^[2][21][1]
2. Empty for the time being; little frequented: Ao domingo a praça fica deserta.^[2][12]
3. (law) Of an appeal, lapsed because it was not pursued in time.^[2][21]
4. (Portugal, informal) Eager, longing: Estou deserto de ir de férias.^[2][13]

Related words

• desertar
• desertor
• deserção
• sertão
• Latin dēsertus
• Spanish desierto

Usage notes

Pregar no deserto “to preach in the desert” means to speak without being heard.^[2][19]

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 n Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. deserto
3. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. dēsertus
4. ^ 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. deserto
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. deserto
6. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 464
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. désert
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2592
9. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. deserto
10. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. deserto
11. ^ 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. deserto
12. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. deserto
13. ^ 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. deserto
14. ^ 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. deserto
15. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 421
16. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. deserto
17. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. deserto
18. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 578
19. ^ a b 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. deserto
20. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2963
21. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. deserto