espião

Forms

espião m (plural espiões, feminine espiã, feminine plural espiãs)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian spione in the view of Houaiss, Aurélio, the Porto Editora dictionary and the DLP.^[2][3][4][5] Houaiss and Aurélio think the word may have come through French spion, and Porto takes that route as given.^[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary, Michaelis and DELPo derive it directly from French espion, and Nascentes leaves the choice open.^[1][6][7][8]

The Italian word is an augmentative in -one of spia (“spy”), itself formed from the verb spiare (“to spy”).^[9][10] The French noun was formed from Old French espier (“to spy”) with the suffix -on; its /s/, silent since the 13th century, was restored in the 16th under the influence of the Italian word, probably during the Italian wars.^[2][9] Earlier dictionaries derived the Portuguese word from the native espia “spy”.^[11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is from about 1596, spelt espjan.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Vieira (1871–1874) defines the word simply as the same as espia, and quotes espiões from the poem Os Mártires of Francisco Manuel do Nascimento.^[13] The old Caldas Aulete separates the paid agent who watches a government, an army or a diplomat from the talebearer who reports what he has seen to harm someone.^[14] In Bahia it was also an adjective for a child, dog or cat that stares at people while they eat, and Michaelis records the same use of a pet in the north-east.^[14][6] Modern Brazilian Portuguese uses it for a football scout and, in slang, for a lookout who warns street sellers or criminals that the police are coming; as an adjective it describes devices made for spying.^[2][14]

Timeline

• c. 1596 – first record, spelt espjan.^[2]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira equates it with espia.^[13]
• 1899 – Figueiredo defines it as one who secretly watches others' acts or the state of an army.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A spy, a person who secretly watches someone or something to gain information.^[2][14][1]
2. A secret agent paid to obtain secret documents or strategic information about a foreign country.^[2][3][5]
3. (derogatory) A person who watches what others do in order to report them; an informer (dedo-duro).^[2][3][14]
4. An infiltrator in an organisation.^[2]
5. (Brazil, football) A scout (olheiro).^[2][14]
6. (Brazil, slang) A lookout who warns of the arrival of the police.^[14]

Adjective

1. Used for spying: um satélite espião.^[2][14]

Related words

• espiar
• espia
• espionagem
• Italian spione
• French espion

Usage notes

The feminine is espiã.^[3][1] In a regional survey of Portugal espião is also the valley gutter where two roof slopes meet, a separate word explained as espiga with the suffix -ão.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. espião
3. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. espião
4. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 3892
5. ^ a b c 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. espião
6. ^ 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. espião
7. ^ 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. espião
8. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. espião
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. espion
10. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. spione
11. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 554
12. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. espião
13. ^ 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, 345
14. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. espião
15. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. espião