escolta

Forms

escolta f (plural escoltas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish escolta (“escort”), from Italian scorta (“guidance, escort”).^[2][3][4][5] Houaiss calls the Spanish route probable and Cunha takes it through Spanish, which has the word from about 1530; the DLP and Michaelis derive it directly from Italian.^{[2][3][6][7][8]} The /l/ comes from Spanish: Corominas and Nascentes explain that the Spanish soldiers who took the word from Italian confused it with scolta (“listening post, sentry”).^[6][4]

The Italian noun, recorded in Dante, is the feminine of scorto, the past participle of scorgere (“to perceive; to guide”).^[9][2][10] The verb goes back to Vulgar Latin *excorrigō (“to straighten, set right the way”), from corrigō.^[2][6][11] The same Italian word gave French escorte.^[11]

Older dictionaries explained it otherwise: Bluteau from Latin cohors, Figueiredo and Silva Bastos from Medieval Latin scorta.^[12][13][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is a text of 1660, with the military sense of a guard detailed to accompany someone or something.^[2] Cunha dates the word to the 17th century.^[3] Bluteau quotes tinha com grossa escolta segurado os postos “he had secured the posts with a strong escort” from Jacinto Freire.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The first dictionaries define it as a military guard: Pereira (1697) renders it with Latin custodia militaris, and Bluteau calls it the guard given for the safety of a general or of anything in danger.^[15][12] Morais (1789) adds the warships that guard other ships, and Vieira and Caldas Aulete the warships convoying merchantmen on long voyages.^[16][17][18] In the 20th century the word covers police, vehicles and aircraft as well as troops, and by extension any retinue.^[2][5] The verb escoltar is recorded from 1727.^[19]

Timeline

• c. 1530 – Spanish escolta, in two accounts of the Battle of Pavia.^[6]
• 1660 – first Portuguese record.^[2]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses it as custodia militaris.^[15]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau derives it from Latin cohors.^[12]
• 1727 – first record of escoltar.^[19]
• 1789 – Morais includes ships that guard other ships.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. An escort: a group of people, troops, police, ships, vehicles or aircraft detailed to accompany and protect someone or something.^[2][5][7][1]
2. (nautical, dated) Warships that convoy merchant ships.^[18]
3. (by extension) A retinue, the people who accompany someone.^[2][18]
4. The act of escorting.^[5]

Word family

• escoltar

Related words

• corrigir
• Italian scorta
• Spanish escolta
• French escorte

Usage notes

In the country races of Rio Grande do Sul, o escolta (masculine) is the rider who accompanies and protects the flag-bearer, a use shared with the Spanish of the Plate.^[20]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. escolta
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. escolta
4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. escolta
5. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. escolta
6. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 700
7. ^ 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. escolta
8. ^ 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. escolta
9. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli, p. s.v. scorta
10. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. escolta
11. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2986
12. ^ a b c d Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. escolta
13. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. escolta
14. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. escolta
15. ^ 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. escolta
16. ^ 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, 34
17. ^ 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, 265
18. ^ a b c 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. escolta
19. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. escoltar
20. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. escolta