dinheiro

Forms

dinheiro m (plural dinheiros)^[1] Thirteenth-century texts write dinheiro, deneyro and dinheyro;^[2] dijnheiro is recorded in 1331 and dieiro in the 14th century.^[2] The cantigas also have dĩeiro.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *dīnārius, an alteration of Latin dēnārius (“a Roman silver coin worth ten asses”).^[2][1] The Latin word is formed from dēnī (“ten each”), from decem (“ten”), with the suffix -ārius.^[2][1] It first named the silver coin worth ten copper asses, then various coins, and finally money as an indefinite sum.^[2]

The ⟨i⟩ of the first syllable, also found in Spanish dinero, Catalan diner and the form dinaro of the old dialects of Lombardy and Veneto, is put down by Corominas to the influence of Ancient Greek δηνάριον (dēnárion), the Greek form of the Latin word, whose η was pronounced /i/ in late antiquity; he supposes that it spread from the Byzantine south-east of Spain and with Mediterranean trade.^[4] Nascentes likewise explains the ⟨i⟩ by the iotacism of Byzantine Greek, and the REW too considers this form Greek.^[5][6] Nascentes describes the rest of the change: the /n/ nasalised the vowel before it and was later palatalised, giving ⟨nh⟩, and the /i/ of the suffix moved into the syllable before it.^[5]

The same Latin word is Galician diñeiro, French denier and Italian denaro.^[6][1] Portuguese also has the learned denário, taken from the same Latin word, and dinar, the name of an Arabic coin.^[1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to 1269, from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese.^[2] In the cantigas it is a coin of small value: Pero Garcia Burgalês writes Ca eu nẽum dĩeiro nom tragia “for I carried not a single coin”.^[3] Viterbo's Elucidário quotes the word from documents of 1116 to 1200 in his article on old coins.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In the medieval language the word named particular coins: the cantigas speak of dinheiros velhos, the old money of earlier reigns as against newly minted coin.^[9] Morais (1789) records that under King João I twelve dinheiros made a soldo and twenty soldos a libra, and Figueiredo (1899) that under Afonso V the copper dinheiro was worth a third of a ceitil.^[10][11] In the East, Afonso de Albuquerque gave the name to a tin coin of Malacca and Goa worth half a real, as João de Barros reports in 1553.^[12] Among moneyers the word also measured the fineness of silver: sterling silver was “of twelve dinheiros”.^[10][2]

From the coin the word passed to money in general, and Cardoso (1569) already translates it with Latin pecunia.^[13][2] Bluteau (1712–1728) derives it from Latin denarius and discusses the thirty dinheiros for which Judas sold Christ.^[14] Modern Portuguese has a long list of popular and slang synonyms, among them grana, massa, guita and cobres.^[15][1] The word was borrowed into Kadiwéu as dinyeelo.^[1]

Timeline

• 1116–1200 – Latin documents quoted by Viterbo name the coin.^[8]
• 1269 – first record of the Portuguese word.^[2]
• 13th century – the spellings deneyro and dinheyro; the cantigas use dinheiro and dĩeiro for a small coin.^[2][3]
• 1331 – the spelling dijnheiro.^[2]
• 1380–1425 – the Flos Sanctorum fragment of Santiago is the oldest text of the CTA corpus with the word.^[16]
• 1553 – João de Barros records Albuquerque's tin dinheiro of Malacca.^[12]
• 1569 – Cardoso translates dinheiro as pecunia and numus.^[13]
• 1789 – Morais describes the medieval coin and the dinheiro as a measure of the fineness of silver.^[10]
• 1899 – Figueiredo defines the old Portuguese copper coin.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. money: the conventional means of exchange, in coins and notes, issued and controlled by the state.^[2][15][1]
2. cash, notes and coins as a means of payment: Neste café só se paga em dinheiro.^[2][15]
3. Anything that represents money or can be converted into it, such as cheques, shares or securities.^[2][15]
4. A sum of money, stated or not.^[2][17]
5. wealth, fortune.^[2][17]
6. (historical) The Roman denarius, worth ten asses.^[2][18]
7. (historical) An old Portuguese copper coin, worth a third of a ceitil under Afonso V.^[2][11][1]
8. (historical) A tin coin of Goa and Malacca worth half a real.^[2][12]
9. (metallurgy) A unit of the proportion of silver in an alloy: sterling silver has eleven parts of silver to one of copper.^[2][10]

Word family

• dinheirama
• dinheirão
• dinheirinho
• dinheiroso
• dinheirudo
• endinheirar

Related words

• denário
• dinar
• Latin dēnārius
• Galician diñeiro
• Spanish dinero

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include dinheiro vivo “cash”, dinheiro sujo “money from illegal activities” and the proverb tempo é dinheiro.^[19][18][1] In Portugal dinheiro como milho (colloquial) means a great deal of money, and dinheiro de sardinhas (popular) small sums received little by little on account of a larger one.^[17][20]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. dinheiro
3. ^ a b c Lopes, Graça Videira; Ferreira, Manuel Pedro et al. (2011–), Cantigas Medievais Galego-Portuguesas [online database], Lisboa: Instituto de Estudos Medievais, FCSH/NOVA, https://cantigas.fcsh.unl.pt, p. s.v. dinheiro
4. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 497
5. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. dinheiro
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2553
7. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. denário
8. ^ a b Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 376
9. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. dinheiro
10. ^ a b c d Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 440
11. ^ a b c Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. dinheiro
12. ^ a b c Dalgado, Sebastião Rodolfo (1919–1921), Glossário luso-asiático, 2 vols., Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade, p. 1, 361
13. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. dinheiro
14. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. dinheiro
15. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. dinheiro
16. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. dinheiro
17. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 3171
18. ^ 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. dinheiro
19. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. dinheiro
20. ^ 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. dinheiro