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domingo

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Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word domingo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1265 More words from the 13th century
Inherited from
Latin dies Dominicus
Ultimate origin
Latin dominus

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /duˈmĩ.ɡu/, /doˈmĩ.ɡu/[1]
  • Portugal: /duˈmĩ.ɡu/[1]

Forms

domingo m (plural domingos)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin diēs Dominicus (“the Lord's day”), shortened to the adjective dominicus (“of the lord”), which took on the sense of the whole phrase.[2][1][3] The oldest texts already write Old Galician-Portuguese domingo.[2] The Christian name replaced the pagan diēs Sōlis (“day of the sun”), from about AD 200 onwards.[4] Houaiss compares the names kept from the sun's day in English Sunday and German Sonntag.[2] The adjective is formed from dominus (“lord, master”) with the suffix -icus.[5][1]

The same Latin adjective is Spanish domingo, Italian domenica and Romanian duminică, while French dimanche, Occitan dimenge and Catalan diumenge keep a form of the noun diēs (“day”) in front.[6] Wiktionary lists domínico as a learned doublet.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates domingo to 1265, from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese.[2] Before that the word appears inside Latin texts: as a personal name, Domingus, in a Latin charter of 1115, and in a legal text of 1209 printed in the Portugaliae Monumenta Historica, which forbids distraint on Sunday: que ninguno non prinde en domingo.[7]

Semantic evolution

The word has always meant Sunday, the Christian day of rest and prayer.[2][8] Cardoso (1569) and Barbosa (1611) give both Latin names, dies dominicus and dies solis.[9][10] Morais (1789) calls it the first day of the week, a holiday of obligation, between Saturday and Monday.[11] The liturgical calendar named particular Sundays, such as domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday) and domingo gordo (the Sunday before Ash Wednesday).[2][12]

Portuguese passed the word to Kimbundu as lumingu, to Malay as minggu and to Tetum in loron-domingu.[1]

Timeline

  • 1115 – the personal name Domingus in a Latin charter.[7]
  • 1209 – en domingo in a legal text of the Portugaliae Monumenta Historica.[7]
  • 1265 – first record of domingo.[2]
  • c. 1446 – the Vida de Santa Maria Egipcíaca uses the word.[13]
  • 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary translates it as dies solis and dies dominicus.[9]
  • 1789 – Morais defines it as the first day of the week.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Sunday, the day after Saturday and before Monday, counted as the first day of the week.[2][14][1]
  2. (religion) The day set aside by Christians for worship and rest.[2][15]

Adverb

  1. On Sunday.[1]

Word family

  • dominga
  • domingueiro

Usage notes

Domingo gordo is the Sunday before Ash Wednesday, and domingo magro the Sunday before that.[15][16]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. domingo
  3. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. domingo
  4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. diēs Dominicus
  5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. dominicus
  6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2738
  7. ^ a b c 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. domingo
  8. ^ Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 2, 1116
  9. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. domingo
  10. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. domingo
  11. ^ a b 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, 454
  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. domingo
  13. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. domingo
  14. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. domingo
  15. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. domingo
  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. domingo

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Domingo.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/domingo. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

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