fé

Forms

fé f (plural fés)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote fe and fee.^[2][3] Cunha records fee into the 15th century.^[3] Feijó in 1734 prescribes fé, not fee.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin fidēs (“trust, faith, pledged word”), written Old Galician-Portuguese fe and Old Galician-Portuguese fee in the oldest texts.^[5][3][1] Nascentes derives it from the accusative through *fede, which gave the old two-syllable form.^[6] In the cantigas it rhymes with words in open /ɛ/, a vowel that Michaëlis explains as the fusion of the two vowels of the older form.^[2]

The same Latin word is Galician fe, Spanish fe, Catalan fe, French foi and Italian fede.^[7][1] The Spanish word too had an older form Old Spanish fee, which Corominas finds in documents up to the 16th century.^[8]

The Latin noun is from Proto-Italic *fiþē- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰidʰ-eh₁- (“faith”), the zero grade of *bʰeydʰ- (“to trust”), which is also behind fīdō (“to trust”) and foedus (“treaty”).^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's date of 1111 comes from a Latin charter.^[5] The earliest Galician-Portuguese record in the DDGM is a charter of 1262: E ontre nos ande senpre bõa fe dambalas partes “and let there always be good faith between us on both sides”.^[2] Here, as in the oaths of the cantigas, the word means loyalty to one's word.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The cantigas use fé above all in oaths and assurances: per bõa fé “in good faith, truly”, a la fé “indeed”, fé que devedes “by the faith you owe”, and the popular bofé.^[2][10] The Cantigas de Santa Maria and the Crónica Geral also use it for the Christian religion, a sancta fe catolicha, and for loyalty.^[2] In notarial Galician of the 15th century dar fe meant “to certify”, and the notary's fe gave a document its authority.^[2]

Bluteau in 1712 defines it first as one of the theological virtues, and Morais in 1813 distinguishes divine faith, resting on revelation, from human faith, resting on testimony.^[11][12] Modern dictionaries keep the religious, legal and everyday senses side by side.^[5][13] In Brazilian use botar fé and levar fé mean “to trust”.^[14]

The word passed into Konkani.^[1]

Timeline

• 1111 – a Latin charter has the word.^[5]
• 1262 – bõa fe in a Galician-Portuguese charter.^[2]
• 13th century – per bõa fé and a la fé in the cantigas.^[2][3]
• 15th century – the spelling fee still in use.^[3]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses fé with the Latin fides.^[15]
• 1712 – Bluteau defines fé as a theological virtue.^[11]
• 1734 – Feijó rejects the spelling fee.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Christianity) The first of the three theological virtues.^[5][16]
2. Religious faith, belief; a religion with its doctrines: a fé cristã.^[5][16][1]
3. Complete trust (confiança) in someone or something; credit: Tenho fé nesta equipa.^[5][17]
4. Assurance or proof of a fact.^[5]
5. Faithfulness to one's word; loyalty.^[5][13]
6. (law) The credibility due to a document; the certifying statement of an official.^[5][18]

Word family

• boa-fé
• má-fé
• fementido

Related words

• fidelidade
• fiel
• Latin fidēs
• Spanish fe

Usage notes

Dar fé means both “to certify, attest” and “to notice”.^[5] Fazer fé means “to be credible, to bear witness”.^[5] Fé púnica is treachery, alluding to the bad faith the Romans charged the Carthaginians with.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. fe
3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. fé
4. ^ 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. fé
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. fé
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. fé
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3285
8. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 877
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Lopes, Graça Videira; Ferreira, Manuel Pedro et al. (2011–), Cantigas Medievais Galego-Portuguesas [online database], Lisboa: Instituto de Estudos Medievais, FCSH/NOVA, https://cantigas.fcsh.unl.pt, p. s.v. fé
11. ^ 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. fé
12. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 7
13. ^ 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. fé
14. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. fé
15. ^ 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. fé
16. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. fé
17. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 4217
18. ^ 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. fé