escola

Forms

escola f (plural escolas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin schola (“lecture; school”), written Old Galician-Portuguese escola in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1][4] It is a popular word, but its form is semi-learned: Nascentes points to the -l- that was kept between vowels, and Corominas explains such forms by the influence of the Latin word.^[5][6][1]

The Latin word is from Ancient Greek σχολή (skholḗ, “leisure; study; school”).^[2][1][7] Houaiss explains the shift of meaning: study was the occupation of the free man, who had leisure because he did not need to work.^[2][8] The Greek noun is formed from the aorist stem of ἔχω (ékhō, “to hold”).^[1]

The same Latin word is Galician escola, Spanish escuela, Catalan escola, French école and Italian scuola.^[9][1] The REW also connects the Old Portuguese escol “retinue” with a military sense of the Latin word.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 13th century.^[2][3] The Cantigas de Santa Maria tell of a boy who ontr' os crischãos liya na escola “read in the school among the Christians”, and in a cantiga of Vasco Gil and Afonso X the speaker recalls studying canon law as a young cleric nas escolas “in the schools”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau separates the singular escola, the house where children learn to read, write and count, from the plural escolas, the colleges or university where the sciences are studied.^[11] Barbosa already lists schools of fencing and of dancing.^[12] From the school the word passed to the doctrine of a master and his followers, to a style in art (escola flamenga), and to experience of life.^[2][13][1] Brazil has the escola de samba, the samba club that parades at carnival.^[2][1]

The word passed into languages of Asia: sekolah in Malay and iśkol in Konkani.^[1] Kabuverdianu has skola.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records; the Cantigas de Santa Maria have na escola.^[2][3][10]
• 1344 – the Crónica de 1344 tells of a king who founded scollas and paid masters.^[10]
• c. 1510 – escola in the Vida de Santo Agostinho.^[14]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary renders escola by Latin ludus and schola.^[15]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists schools of fencing and dancing.^[12]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau distinguishes escola from escolas.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A school, a public or private place where teaching is given to groups: uma escola de línguas.^{[2][13][4][1]}
2. The teachers, pupils and staff of a school.^[2][13]
3. The building that houses a school.^[2][13]
4. A system, doctrine (doutrina) or style of a thinker or artist, and the people who follow it: a escola estruturalista.^[2][13][1]
5. A set of principles followed by a group of artists: a escola flamenga.^[2][1]
6. Knowledge, learning; what serves to teach: A rua foi a sua escola.^[2][16]
7. (figurative) Experience of life.^[2][1]
8. (Rio de Janeiro, informal) A gambling den.^[2]

Word family

• autoescola
• escolinha
• jardim-escola
• escola de samba

Related words

• escolar
• escolástico
• escol
• Latin schola
• Galician escola
• Spanish escuela

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. escola
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. escola
4. ^ 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. escola
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. escola
6. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 714
7. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. σχολή
8. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 185
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7703
10. ^ 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. escola
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. escola
12. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. escola
13. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. escola
14. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. escola
15. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. escola
16. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. escola