ensaio

Forms

ensaio m (plural ensaios)^[1] The oldest spelling is enssay (13th century); Folqman (1755) still gives ensayo beside ensaio.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin exagium (“a weighing”).^[3][2][1][5] The Latin noun is formed from exigō (“to weigh, measure”), itself from ex- and agō (“to drive”).^[1][6] Corominas holds that the Late Latin word, and the Greek word taken from it, already meant “verification”, from which the senses “proof” and “attempt” developed side by side.^[7][3] DELPo and Silva Bastos (1912) take the noun instead as a back-formation from ensaiar, but Houaiss and Cunha derive the verb from the noun.^{[8][9][10][2]}

The same Latin word is Galician ensaio, Spanish ensayo, Catalan assaig, French essai and Italian saggio.^[11][12] The n of the first syllable has been explained in several ways: by the Portuguese dislike of a bare initial e- (Nunes, followed by Nascentes), by the prefix in- (Menéndez Pidal) or by the analogy of words such as enxame (Cornu).^[5][12]

The literary sense “essay” Nascentes takes from English essay, and Aurélio gives it a separate article, from the French word.^[5][13] Houaiss treats it as part of the same development of “trial, attempt”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cunha and Houaiss date the first record, spelt enssay, to the 13th century, with the senses “proof, experiment”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Pereira (1697) glosses the word with Latin praeludium and prolusio, a prelude or preliminary exercise.^[14] Morais (1789) defines it first as the assay goldsmiths and chemists make of metals, then as any attempt by which someone tests his ability before a greater task, and as a piece of writing in which the mind's powers are tried.^[15] Vieira (1871) adds the rehearsal of a part in a play.^[16]

Houaiss dates ensaísta “essayist” to 1918, modelled on English essayist.^[17] Modern technical senses include materials testing, trial coins and stamp proofs; in Rio Grande do Norte the word names the eve of a vaquejada, and in rugby it is a try.^[3][18]

Timeline

• 13th century – first record, spelt enssay.^[2][3]
• 14th century – ensayar and ensaiamento.^[2]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses Ensaio with Latin praeludium.^[14]
• 1755 – Folqman lists ensaio or ensayo.^[4]
• 1771 – Ensaio in a private letter.^[19]
• 1789 – Morais gives the assay of metals, an attempt and a written essay.^[15]
• 1871 – Vieira adds the theatre rehearsal.^[16]
• 1918 – first record of ensaísta “essayist”.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. A test or trial of something's properties or performance; an experiment: um ensaio de resistência.^[3][13][1]
2. An attempt, a first try: Foi só um ensaio.^[3][13]
3. A rehearsal of a play, a concert or a dance; practice, training.^[3][13][1]
4. (literature) An essay: a prose work treating a subject critically without exhausting it.^[3][13][1]
5. An assay of gold or silver, to find its fineness.^[3][18]
6. (numismatics) A trial coin struck to test a die.^[3]
7. (rugby) A try.^[18]
8. (Rio Grande do Norte) The eve of a vaquejada.^[3]

Word family

• ensaiar
• ensaiamento
• ensaísta

Related words

• Spanish ensayo
• French essai

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. ensaio
3. ^ 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. ensaio
4. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ensaio
5. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. ensaio
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. essai
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 640
8. ^ 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. ensaio
9. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. ensaio
10. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. ensaiar
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2932
12. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. s.v. ensaio
13. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. ensaio
14. ^ a b Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ensaio
15. ^ 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, 506
16. ^ a b Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 3, 160
17. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. ensaísta
18. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. ensaio
19. ^ 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. ensaio