estupendo

Forms

estupendo (feminine estupenda, masculine plural estupendos, feminine plural estupendas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin stupendus (“to be wondered at”), the gerundive of stupeō (“to be stunned, to be amazed”).^[2][3][1] Houaiss and Cunha date it to 1572, and the old Caldas Aulete quotes it from Camões's epic, the Lusíadas.^[2][3][4] Nascentes calls it a semi-learned word.^[5] Wiktionary takes the Latin word as Late Latin.^[1] The Spanish cognate is estupendo.^[6]

The Latin verb meant at first “to be numb, paralysed”.^[7] De Vaan explains this stative sense from the root Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp- (“to hit, push”): to be stunned is to have been struck, and the same root gave stuprum (“dishonour”).^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Os Lusíadas (1572) the word describes what overwhelms by its size or strangeness: an estupendo corpo “stupendous body” (canto V, 49) and a father who comes com ânimo estupendo “with a fearsome spirit” (canto X, 33).^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712–1728) defines it as “a thing that frightens, that causes great wonder”, glossed with Latin terribilis, and quotes Vieira's maravilhas … estupendas.^[9] Morais (1813) and Vieira's dictionary (1871–1874) keep the stress on amazement and astonishment.^[10][11] Houaiss still lists the older sense “monstrous, colossal”, which the dictionaries record beside “admirable”.^[2][12] In everyday modern use the word has become a general term of praise, “excellent, great”.^[13][1]

Timeline

• 1572 – Camões uses the word in Os Lusíadas.^[2][4]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines estupendo as a thing that causes great wonder.^[9]
• 1813 – Morais: “that causes fright, wonder; marvellous”.^[10]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira derives it from Latin stupendus.^[11]
• 1899 – Figueiredo gives “admirable; frightful; monstrous, extraordinary”.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That causes amazement; marvellous, wonderful, extraordinary.^[2][12][1]
2. That astonishes by its enormity; colossal, monstrous.^[2][4]
3. (informal) Very good, terrific: Que jantar estupendo!^[13][1]

Related words

• estúpido
• estupor
• estupefato
• Latin stupeō

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. estupendo
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. estupendo
4. ^ a b c d 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. estupendo
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. estupendo
6. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. estupendo
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. stupeō
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ 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. estupendo
10. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 787
11. ^ 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, 463
12. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. estupendo
13. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 4025
14. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. estupendo