figura

Forms

figura f (plural figuras)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote figura and fegura.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin figūra (“form, shape; image; figure of speech”), written Old Galician-Portuguese figura and Old Galician-Portuguese fegura in the 13th century.^[2][3][5][1] The same Latin word is Galician figura, Spanish figura, Catalan figura, Italian figura, French figure and Romanian figură.^[1] Corominas notes that the word has a learned form in all the Romance languages, and that a semi-popular Old Spanish fegura has been in common use in Spanish in every period, as in Galician-Portuguese.^[6][7]

The Latin noun is formed on the root of fingō (“to knead, to shape”) with the suffix -ūra.^[8][1][9] The verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- (“to form, shape”), which de Vaan reconstructs with a nasal present.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Cantigas de Santa Maria the word means an image or likeness: foron achadas figuras / da Madre de Deus “images of the Mother of God were found” at Gethsemane, the devil comes en figura de touro “in the shape of a bull”, and the host de pan á fegura “has the shape of bread”.^[4] The Miragres de Santiago use it for carved figures and statues.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Medieval texts already have the main senses, shape and represented image; the Crónica Troiana also uses fegura for a person's features.^[4][7] The verb figurar and the participle figurado date from the 13th century too.^[3] Barbosa in 1611 records figurar “to make figures”.^[11] Morais in 1813 adds the geometric figure and the figure of speech, an unusual way of saying something for brevity, force or ornament.^[12] Later senses name a notable person, the court cards of a pack, and an actor's part.^[2][13] In Ceará the masculine o figura is an informal name for the devil.^[2] In Rio Grande do Sul a figura is a recent trial of a horse's balance and obedience to the rein.^[14]

Timeline

• 13th century – figura and fegura;^[2][3] figurar and figurado from the same century.^[2][3]
• c. 1400 – figura in a fragment of the Flos Sanctorum (witness 1380–1425).^[15]
• c. 1430 – fegura in the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437).^[16]
• 15th century – first record of figuração.^[3]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses it with Latin figura.^[17]
• 1611 – Barbosa records the verb figurar.^[11]
• 1813 – Morais adds the geometric figure and the figure of speech.^[12]
• 19th century – first record of figurino.^[3]
• 1871 – Vieira connects it with Latin fingere “to form”.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. The outer form or outline of a body; shape: as nuvens tinham a figura de um peixe.^[2][13][1]
2. (geometry) A figure bounded by points, lines or surfaces.^[2][19]
3. A painted, carved or drawn representation of a person, animal or thing; a statue or picture.^[2][20]
4. An illustration accompanying a text.^[2][1]
5. A dim, barely seen form: uma figura passou no escuro.^[2][20]
6. A symbol or emblem.^[2]
7. A notable person; a personality: as grandes figuras da ciência.^[2][13][1]
8. The build or general appearance of a person; the impression a person or thing makes.^[20][13]
9. (pejorative) A person's face.^[2]
10. (rhetoric) A figure of speech.^[2]
11. (logic) Each of the four forms of the syllogism.^[2]
12. (card games) A court card: king, queen or jack.^[2][13]
13. (music) A group of notes forming a melodic and rhythmic unit; each section of a French quadrille.^[2]
14. (theatre) A character in a play; the actor who plays it.^[2][13]
15. (masculine, Ceará, informal) The devil.^[2]

Word family

• afigurado
• afigurar
• desfiguração
• desfigurado
• desfigurar
• figuração
• figurado
• figurar
• figurativo
• figurino

Related words

• configuração
• configurar
• fingir
• Latin figūra
• Spanish figura

Usage notes

Figura decorativa is a person who holds a position without any real function.^[2]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. figura
3. ^ a b c d e f g Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. figura
4. ^ a b c d 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. figura
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. figura
6. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 894
7. ^ 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. fegura
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. figure
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. figura
12. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 31
13. ^ a b c d e f Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 4288
14. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. figura
15. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. figura
16. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. fegura
17. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. figura
18. ^ 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, 670
19. ^ 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. figura
20. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. figura