forte

Forms

forte m or f (plural fortes, comparable, comparative mais forte, superlative o mais forte or fortíssimo, diminutive fortinho, augmentative fortão)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin fortis (“strong, brave”), written Old Galician-Portuguese forte in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] The noun, a fortified place, is the adjective used as a noun.^[4]

The same Latin word is Galician forte, Spanish fuerte, Catalan fort, French fort and Italian forte; Romanian foarte has become an adverb meaning “very”.^[5][6][1]

The Old Latin form was forctis, from Proto-Italic *forkti-.^[7][1] De Vaan proposes two uncertain Indo-European sources, “stuffed” or “firm, strong”;^[7][1] Wiktionary names the roots Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“high”) and *dʰerǵʰ- (“to bind fast, be firm”).^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective is recorded from the 13th century.^[2][3] In the cantigas it means “vigorous, hard, harsh”, and above all occurs in en forte ponto and en forte ora “at an evil hour”, a phrase in which forte means “unlucky”.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

The medieval language already had the senses “strong, powerful, cruel”, “painful”, “ill-fated” and, of wine, “strong”.^[9] Under King Dinis forte was also the name of a silver coin worth forty réis.^[10][11]

The noun “fort” is in Pereira's dictionary of 1697 and is described at length by Bluteau, earlier than the 1836 and 1844 dates Cunha gives for it.^[12][13][3] Houaiss lists more than thirty modern senses of the adjective, among them “stout” (a euphemism for fat), “knowledgeable in a subject” and “of high alcoholic strength”, besides the noun senses “a person's strong point” and the musical forte.^[2][1]

Timeline

• 13th century – first record of the adjective.^[2][3]
• 1416 – forte in the Vida de Santo Aleixo.^[14]
• 1697 – Pereira's Thesouro lists forte “fortification”.^[12]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau describes the forte and the forte de campanha, a field fort.^[13]
• 1844 – Cunha's date for the noun “fortified place”, which his addenda move back to 1836.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. strong, with great physical strength; muscular, robust: um rapaz forte.^[2][15][1]
2. Stout, heavily built;^[2][1] (euphemistic) fat.^[2][1]
3. Brave, courageous; able to bear hardship: espírito forte.^[2][16]
4. Powerful, having great power or influence: um governo forte.^[2][17]
5. Intense, acting strongly on the senses: uma luz forte, uma dor forte.^[2][1]
6. Solid, durable, hard to break.^[2][18]
7. Versed, good at a subject: forte em química.^[2][19]
8. Of a drink, highly concentrated or alcoholic; of a food, very flavoured: café forte.^[2][19]
9. Of an argument, well founded and convincing.^[2][17]

Noun

1. A fort, a fortified building defending a strategic place.^[2][16][1]
2. A person's strong point, the field in which someone excels: A música não é o meu forte.^[2][1]
3. A strong or powerful person.^[2][16]
4. (music) A passage played loudly.^[2][16]

Adverb

1. Strongly, with force or intensity: Chovia forte.^[2][16]

Word family

• fortemente
• fortaleza
• fortalecer
• fortalecimento
• fortim
• afortalezar

Related words

• força
• fortificação
• fortificar
• Latin fortis
• Galician forte
• Spanish fuerte

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. forte
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. forte
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. forte
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3457
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. fortis
7. ^ a b c 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. fortis
8. ^ 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. forte
9. ^ a b 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. forte
10. ^ Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 473
11. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. forte
12. ^ a b 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. forte
13. ^ 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. forte
14. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. forte
15. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. forte
16. ^ a b c d e 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. forte
17. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 4421
18. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. forte
19. ^ 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. forte