escravo

Forms

escravo m (plural escravos, feminine escrava, feminine plural escravas)^[1] Fifteenth-century texts write scrauo, escrauo and esclauo.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin sclavus (“Slav; slave”), recorded in Portuguese from the 15th century.^[2][3][1][4] The Medieval Latin word, found from the 10th century, comes from Byzantine Greek Σκλάβος (Sklábos, “Slav”), from Proto-Slavic *slověninъ, the name the Slavs used for themselves.^[2][5] Its sense passed from “Slav” to “slave” because Germanic and Byzantine rulers enslaved great numbers of Slavs in the early Middle Ages.^[2][3][4] Cunha names Charlemagne and his successors in the 8th–9th centuries.^[3] Nascentes, after Meyer-Lübke, has it come through Italian schiavo.^[6]

The same word is Spanish esclavo and French esclave, and Italian has it too.^[2][1] Houaiss and Cunha point out that it is recorded much later in Portuguese and Spanish than in French, Italian, English and German, since the vernacular said cativo for a slave from the 13th century.^[2][3] eslavo and tchau go back to the same word.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first date is the 15th century, from Cunha's slips of medieval Portuguese, in the spellings scrauo and esclauo; the meaning is already “a person owned by a master”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712–1728) traces it to Late Latin sclavus and reports older derivations, one from the Slavonia where parents could sell their children.^[7] Pereira (1697) translates it mancipium, and Folqman (1755) servus.^[8][9] Morais (1789) records the figurative escravo dos vícios “slave of the vices”.^[10]

Schlee notes that in Portugal the word at first referred to the Moor or the captive from India, and that the African slave is mentioned only after the slave trade to the Americas had spread.^[11] Modern senses include a person devoted to someone, a person who works too hard, and, in computing, a device controlled by another.^[2][1] In Trás-os-Montes it means “badly treated, ill fed”, and in horsemanship a willing horse of good quality.^[12][13]

Timeline

• 15th century – first records, as scrauo and esclauo.^[2][3]
• 1593 – first record of esclavina, a pilgrim's cape.^[3]
• 1697 – Pereira's Thesouro glosses it with Latin mancipium.^[8]
• 1712 – first record of esclavagem.^[3]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau discusses its etymology.^[7]
• 1789 – Morais records the figurative use.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A slave: a person deprived of freedom and owned by a master.^[2][14][1]
2. A person under the absolute power of another or of a tyrannical government.^[2][14]
3. (figurative) A person dominated by a passion or habit: escravo do jogo.^[2][15]
4. (figurative) A servant; one who works too hard.^[2][16]
5. (figurative) A devoted lover or faithful friend.^[2][13]
6. (computing) A device controlled by another.^[1]

Adjective

1. enslaved; held as property.^[2][15][1]
2. Belonging to or done by slaves: trabalho escravo.^[2][15]
3. (Trás-os-Montes) Badly treated, ill fed.^[12]

Word family

• escravidão
• escravizar
• escravatura
• escravagismo
• escravagista
• escravismo
• escravista
• escravocrata
• escravaria

Related words

• eslavo
• tchau
• cativo
• Medieval Latin sclavus
• Spanish esclavo

Usage notes

Ser escravo da sua palavra means to keep one's word whatever it costs.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. escravo
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. escravo
4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. escravo
5. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. sclavus
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 187
7. ^ 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. escravo
8. ^ 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. escravo
9. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. escravo
10. ^ 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, 36
11. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. escravo
12. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. escravo
13. ^ 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. escravo
14. ^ 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. escravo
15. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. escravo
16. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 3809