diamante

Forms

diamante m (plural diamantes)^[1] Houaiss records the 15th-century forms adamante and diamão, diamante in 1572 and diaman in the 16th century.^[2] A private letter of 1597 writes the plural diamãotes.^[3]

Etymology

Wiktionary takes it as borrowed from Late Latin diamas (“diamond”).^[1] Houaiss, Aurélio and the DLP call the Latin source a Vulgar Latin form, and DELPo thinks the word came through French.^[2][4][5][6]

The Latin form is an alteration of classical Latin adamās (“the hardest metal, adamant; diamond”), which is from Ancient Greek ἀδάμας (adámas).^[2][7] In Greek the word meant a hard metal, “steel”, in Hesiod and “diamond” in Theophrastus.^[8] It is usually explained as “the untameable”, a negative of δάμνημι (dámnēmi, “to tame, subdue”).^[8][7] Wiktionary traces this verb to Proto-Indo-European *demh₂-, but Beekes leaves the origin of the noun open, and the Latin Wiktionary entry also mentions a Semitic origin.^[1][8]

According to Corominas, the Latin word first became Vulgar Latin *adimas through the weakening of short vowels in inner syllables, and this was then reshaped under the influence of the many Greek words beginning with the same syllable, above all diadēma (“diadem”), which held diamonds.^[7] The reshaped form already appears on Latin curse tablets.^[7][9] Houaiss also speaks of the influence of other words, and Nascentes suggests the word for the diadem or diáfano “transparent”.^[2][10] The REW follows Suchier in seeing the influence of διαφανής (diaphanḗs, “transparent”).^[9]

The same form gave Spanish diamante, Italian diamante, French diamant and Old Occitan diaman.^[9] The unreshaped form was used for the lodestone, because of its hardness, and it gave French aimant and, through French, Spanish imán.^[7][11] Houaiss compares ímã “magnet”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the first record to 1443, from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese.^[2] Nascentes notes that the older sense was “steel”, and that it is still found in the classics, in Os Lusíadas.^[10] He adds that the word first meant the purest steel and only later the gem.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The 16th- and 17th-century dictionaries gloss the word with Latin adamas, and Barbosa (1611) adds cousa de diamante for anything hard as diamond.^[13][14] Bluteau calls it the hardest, brightest and most valued of precious stones, and describes the three main cuts, diamante chapa or tabla, diamante rosa and diamante fundo.^[15] He also records two pieces of steel named after it: the pointed boss in the middle of a round shield (diamante de rodella) and the iron spike used to prime artillery.^[15] Morais (1813) adds the trade names and prices of the stones.^[16]

Figueiredo (1899) records an adjective for books printed in a small format with very fine, clear type.^[17] Modern dictionaries add the glazier's tool for cutting glass, a jewel set with a diamond, and the figurative sense of something very bright.^[2][4] In Brazil the word is also a name for a shooting star, and in Portugal it has been recorded as the name of an ox.^[18]

Timeline

• 1443 – first record, according to Houaiss.^[2]
• 15th century – the forms adamante and diamão.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses Diamante with Latin adamas.^[13]
• 1597 – diamãotes in a private letter.^[3]
• 1611 – Barbosa adds cousa de diamante “something hard as diamond”.^[14]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau describes the cuts of the stone and the diamante de rodella of a shield.^[15]
• 1813 – Morais lists diamante rosa, chapa or tabla and brilhante or fundo.^[16]
• 1899 – Figueiredo records the adjective for small-format editions.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. (mineralogy) diamond, pure carbon crystallised in the cubic system, the hardest of minerals, used as a gem and in cutting and drilling tools.^[2][4]
2. A jewel set with a diamond.^[2][19]
3. (figurative) Anything that shines very brightly.^[2]
4. A glazier's tool for cutting glass, a fragment of diamond fixed to a handle.^[2][4]
5. Any faceted object that looks like a cut diamond.^[2]
6. (Brazil) A tool of various shapes for turning metal; also a chisel bevelled on both faces, for turning wood.^[2]
7. (military, obsolete) A metal needle for clearing the vent of a gun.^[2][20]
8. (printing, obsolete) A three-point type size.^[2]

Adjective

1. (printing) Of an edition: printed in a small format with very fine but clear type.^[17][20]
2. Hard, firm, unbending.^[5][21]

Word family

• diamantino
• diamantífero

Related words

• ímã
• adamantino
• Latin adamas
• Spanish diamante

Usage notes

An uncut stone is a diamante bruto.^[2][19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. diamante
3. ^ a b CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. diamante
4. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. diamante
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. diamante
6. ^ NEHiLP – Núcleo de Apoio à Pesquisa em Etimologia e História da Língua Portuguesa, Universidade de São Paulo, DELPo: Dicionário Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa (online database), p. s.v. diamante
7. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 488
8. ^ a b c Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. ἀδάμας
9. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 142
10. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. diamante
11. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. imán
12. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 156
13. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. diamante
14. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. diamante
15. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. diamante
16. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 614
17. ^ a b c Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 443
18. ^ 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. diamante
19. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. diamante
20. ^ 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. diamante
21. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 3129