Etymologically

Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word estio

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1200s spelt estyo More words from the 13th century
Inherited from
Latin aestivus
Ultimate origin
Latin aestās
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin aestus
Latin aestīvus
Portuguese estio
From the same root
Latin aestifer ← aestus
Latin aestuārium ← aestus
Latin aestuō ← aestus
Latin aestuōsus ← aestus

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /isˈt͡ʃi.u/, /isˈt͡ʃiw/, [isˈt͡ʃiʊ̯][1]
  • Rio-de-Janeiro: /iʃˈt͡ʃi.u/, /iʃˈt͡ʃiw/, [iʃˈt͡ʃiʊ̯][1]
  • Portugal: /(i)ʃˈti.u/[1]

Forms

estio m (plural estios)[1] Houaiss records estyo in the 13th century, estio in the 14th and stio in the 15th.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin aestīvus (“of summer”), used as a noun with tempus (“season”) understood, and written Old Galician-Portuguese estio in the oldest texts.[2][3][4][1] Juan Ruiz has Old Spanish estivo in one manuscript, beside the form without /v/.[1][5]

The same Latin word is Spanish estío, Catalan estiu and Occitan estiu.[6][7] It has also given Italian stio, a summer linen cloth.[6] The Latin adjective is formed from aestās (“summer”) with -īvus.[1] De Vaan derives aestās from *aissāts and *h₂eydʰ-teh₂t- (“burning, heat”), from the root of aedēs.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is of the 13th century, spelt estyo, from the slips of Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese, and Cunha gives the same century.[2][3] A cantiga d'escarnho of Alfonso X mocks those who are eno meio do estio / estar tremendo sen frio “in the middle of summer, trembling without cold”.[9] Another cantiga doubts that a cold love will last atá o estio “until summer”.[10]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept the sense “summer” from the medieval texts on; the CTA has it in the Regimento proveitoso contra a pestenença of 1496.[11][9] Cardoso (1569) glosses it with Latin aestas, and Feijó (1734) and Morais (1789) define it as the hot season between spring and autumn.[12][13][14] Vieira (1871) quotes Camões's Lusíadas for the Mekong that floods in summer.[15]

The old Caldas Aulete has estio da existência, the time of full vigour after youth, and the use of estio as an adjective, “of summer”.[16] Wiktionary marks the noun as literary or poetic beside the everyday verão.[1] In Rio Grande do Sul it is the hot dry part of the year.[17] From it come estiar “to stop raining” and estiagem “dry spell”, the latter first recorded in 1881.[3][6]

Timeline

  • 1200s – first record, spelt estyo.[2]
  • 1300s – the spelling estio.[2]
  • 1400s – the spelling stio.[2]
  • 1496 – estio in the Regimento proveitoso contra a pestenença.[11]
  • 1569 – Cardoso glosses estio with Latin aestas.[12]
  • 1734 – Feijó defines it as the season between spring and autumn.[13]
  • 1881 – first record of estiagem and estiada.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (literary) summer; verão.[2][18][19][1]
  2. Hot, usually dry weather; the dry season.[19][20][1]
  3. (figurative) The mature age that follows youth: o estio da vida.[2][19][20]

Adjective

  1. Of summer; estival.[2][18]

Word family

  • estiagem
  • estiar
  • estiada

Usage notes

In the Alentejo and the Algarve a separate adjective estio means “thin, slender”; the DLP calls its origin obscure.[19][16][21]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. estio
  3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. estio
  4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. estio
  5. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 790
  6. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. aestīvus
  7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. aestivus
  8. ^ 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. aestās
  9. ^ a b 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. estio
  10. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. estio
  11. ^ a b Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. estio
  12. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. estio
  13. ^ a b Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. estio
  14. ^ 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, 64
  15. ^ 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, 425
  16. ^ a b 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. estio
  17. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. estio
  18. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. estio
  19. ^ a b c d 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. estio
  20. ^ 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. estio
  21. ^ 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. estio

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Estio.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/estio. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

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