falta

Forms

falta f (plural faltas)^[1] Houaiss records fauta in the 15th century and falta in 1513.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *fallita (“lack”), the feminine of *fallitus (“failed”), which took the place of Latin falsus, the past participle of fallō (“to deceive, to fail”).^[2][3][4][1] The DLP glosses the verb as “to fail (to keep one's promises)”.^[5]

The same word is Spanish falta, Catalan falta, old Italian falta and French faute; English fault comes from the French.^[6][1] Meyer-Lübke took the Portuguese and Spanish words from Catalan.^[7][6] Corominas rejects this for Spanish: the /f/ and the group /al/ are kept as in Spanish falso, not because the word is learned or Catalan.^[8]

The verb faltar is formed from the noun.^[3][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to the 15th century, with the form fauta.^[2] A notarial register of Noia in Galicia has syn mógoa nĩ falta algũa “without any loss or default” in 1499.^[10] Cunha gives the 16th century, and a private letter of 1542 already writes falta.^[3][11]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa (1611) has the senses “blemish” and “defect”, and Bluteau “want, need of something”, with falta de mantimentos “lack of provisions”.^[12][13] Figueiredo (1899) lists absence, privation, guilt and sin, imperfection and failure.^[14] Modern dictionaries add death (sentir a falta de alguém), a breach of social duty, the foul of sports and legal senses.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 15th century – fauta.^[2]
• 1499 – falta “default” in a notarial register of Noia.^[10]
• 1513 – the form falta.^[2]
• 1542 – falta in a private letter.^[11]
• c. 1543 – first record of the verb faltar.^[9]
• 1611 – Barbosa renders Falta with Latin vitium and defectus.^[12]
• 1899 – Figueiredo lists the senses “guilt, sin” and “imperfection”.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. lack, want: the fact of something being missing.^[2][15][1]
2. absence: not being where one should be; failure to attend a meeting or class.^[2][15]
3. (by extension) Death, the loss of someone.^[2][4]
4. A wrong, an offence or sin.^[2][4]
5. A mistake, an error: faltas de ortografia.^[2][4]
6. A moral imperfection, a defect; a breach of social duty.^[2][15]
7. (sports) A foul, an infringement of the rules of a game.^[2][1]
8. (law) An act or omission that breaks a contract or a law; a procedural defect.^[2][5]

Word family

• faltar
• faltoso

Related words

• falir
• falso
• Latin fallō
• Spanish falta

Usage notes

Common phrases are fazer falta “to be missed, to be needed”, sem falta “without fail” and à falta de “for want of”.^[2] Falta de ar is shortness of breath, and in football falta máxima is a penalty.^[2][5]

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 m n o p Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. falta
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. falta
4. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. falta
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. falta
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3169
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 208
8. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 841
9. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. faltar
10. ^ 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. falta
11. ^ a b CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. falta
12. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. falta
13. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. falta
14. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 597
15. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. falta