estado

Forms

estado m (plural estados)^[1] Houaiss records the spelling stado in 1446, without the initial vowel.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin status (“way of standing, position, condition”), written Old Galician-Portuguese estado in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] Latin had already used the word for the political order, in Cicero's phrase for “the Roman state”.^[2] Wiktionary notes that Portuguese later borrowed the Latin word again unchanged, as a learned doublet.^[1]

The same Latin word is Galician estado, Spanish estado, Catalan estat, French état, Italian stato and Romanian stat.^[1][5] Houaiss dates the French word to about 1196 and the Spanish and Italian ones to the 13th century.^[2]

The Latin noun belongs to stō (“to stand”): de Vaan counts a tu-stem noun *statu- (“the erecting”) among the inherited formations of that verb.^[6] Wiktionary takes it back to *status and Proto-Indo-European *stéh₂-tu-s, from the root *steh₂- (“to stand”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's chronology gives a charter of 1266 with et teerdes estes muynos perfeytados en bóó estado “and you shall keep these mills repaired, in good condition”.^[7] In the Cantigas de Santa Maria a man asks how to get out of aquel mao estado “that bad state”, and another cantiga says that God does not want man to stay always en un estado, in one condition.^[7] The Crónica Troiana uses the word both for a situation and for rank or social class.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Cunha gives the medieval senses as condition, situation and social class.^[3] In 14th-century law the word also meant a report or accusation laid before the authorities: a document of 1372 complains of notaries who dom estados “give reports” against good men.^[8] Viterbo also records estado for an office for the dead, said by a set number of priests.^[8] Houaiss lists both the office for the dead and a man's average height as obsolete senses.^[2]

The political sense of a sovereign country spread in the European languages in the 15th and 16th centuries.^[2] Barbosa (1611) and Pereira (1697) translate the word by Latin status and ordo.^[9][10] Bluteau's book of synonyms gives it the sense of retinue, pomp and majesty, which Houaiss still lists as “luxury, pomp”.^[11][2] Morais (1813) defines it as the physical or moral situation of a thing or person and records Secretario do Estado.^[12] Vieira (1871–1874) adds the philosophical estado da natureza against estado da sociedade and the theological estado de innocencia.^[13]

In Brazil the word names the federated units of the country, and modern physics uses it for the state of a system or of matter.^[2][14]

Timeline

• 1266 – en bóó estado “in good condition” in a charter.^[7]
• 13th century – Cunha's century for the first record.^[3]
• 13th century, second half – the Cantigas de Santa Maria speak of mao estado “a bad state”.^[7]
• 1372 – estados “reports, accusations” in a legal document.^[8]
• c. 1430 – the Horto do Esposo (witness 1391–1450) is the first text with the word in the CTA.^[15]
• 1446 – the spelling stado.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary translates Estado by Latin status.^[16]
• 1813 – Morais records Secretario do Estado.^[12]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira gives the philosophical estado da natureza.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. The condition in which a thing is found at a given moment: A estrada está em mau estado.^[2][17]
2. The physical or emotional condition of a person or animal;^[2][14] estado de espírito “state of mind”.^[2][14]
3. Social or professional status, rank;^[2][14] estado civil “marital status”.^[2][14]
4. (history) Each of the estates of the old social order: clergy, nobility and commons.^[2][18]
5. (usually capitalised) A sovereign, politically organised country: o Estado português.^[2][19]
6. (usually capitalised) The body of institutions that govern a nation: government, administration, armed forces.^[2][20]
7. A form of government or political regime: um Estado totalitário.^[2]
8. (Brazil) Each territorial unit of a federal country; state.^[2][1]
9. pomp, display, luxury.^[2][21]
10. An inventory or list, as of a person's property.^[2][20]
11. (physics) The condition of a system defined by its properties; each form of matter: estado sólido, estado gasoso.^[2][17]
12. (music) The position of a chord, named after the note in the bass.^[2]

Word family

• estadista
• estadual
• estatal
• estatismo
• estatizar
• interestadual
• paraestatal
• estado-maior

Related words

• estação
• estar
• status
• Galician estado

Usage notes

Houaiss writes the political senses with an initial capital, Estado.^[2] Wiktionary marks the lower-case spelling in those senses as proscribed.^[1]

Estado interessante was a euphemism for pregnancy.^[22] Galician has the same use in estar or quedar en estado, “to be pregnant”.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 q r s t u v w x Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. estado
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. estado
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. estado
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. status
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. stō
7. ^ a b c d e 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. estado
8. ^ a b c Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 416
9. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. estado
10. ^ 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. estado
11. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. estado
12. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 769
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, 385
14. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. estado
15. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. estado
16. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. estado
17. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. estado
18. ^ a b Estraviz, Isaac Alonso, Dicionário Estraviz, https://estraviz.org, p. s.v. estado
19. ^ 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. estado
20. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 561
21. ^ 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. estado
22. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. estado