furto

Forms

furto m (plural furtos)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin fūrtum (“theft”), written Old Galician-Portuguese furto in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] The Latin word is formed from fūr (“thief”) as if it were a past participle.^[1][4]

The same Latin word is Galician furto, Spanish hurto, Catalan furt, Italian furto and Romanian furt.^[5][1] Spanish wrote furto from 1076.^[6] The verb furtar was formed from the noun, as Spanish hurtar was.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's chronology antedates Machado's record of 1152 with a Latin charter of 931 that speaks of a thief who owed III cavalos de furto, “three stolen horses”.^[7][2] In the vernacular the word appears in the 13th century: the Cantigas de Santa Maria tell of a man found con furto que fora fazer, “with the theft he had gone to commit”.^[7][3] From the start it also formed the phrase a furto “secretly, by stealth”, in the cantigas and in the Crónica Geral.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept the sense “theft” and “the thing stolen” since the Middle Ages.^[7][2] Bluteau defines it as what is taken against the owner's reasonable will, with the special case furto de gado “cattle theft”.^[9] Morais in 1813 adds a figurative use for things done in secret, such as hidden love affairs, a sense the Latin word had too.^[10][2] In criminal law furto is the taking of another's movable property against the owner's will, with the intent to keep it.^[2][11] In Rio Grande do Sul the commonest kind has long been cattle theft.^[12]

Timeline

• 931 – a Latin charter writes III cavalos de furto.^[7]
• 13th century – furto and a furto in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[7][3]
• 13th century – first record of the verb furtar.^[3]
• 1446 – furto in the Dez Mandamentos da Ley de Moisés.^[13]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary renders it with Latin furtum.^[14]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau lists furto de gado.^[9]
• 1789 – Morais records a furto “secretly”.^[15]
• 18th century – first record of furtivo.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of stealing; theft, roubo.^[2][16][11]
2. The thing stolen: A polícia recuperou o furto.^[2][16]
3. (law) The taking of another's movable property for oneself or a third party, against the owner's will.^[2][16][11]
4. Passing off another's work as one's own.^[11][17]

Word family

• furtar

Related words

• furtivo
• Latin fūr
• Spanish hurto

Usage notes

The phrase a furto means “secretly, on the sly”, the same as às furtadelas.^[16][18]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. furto
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. furto
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. furtum
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3606
6. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 432
7. ^ a b c d e f 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. furto
8. ^ 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. furto
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. furto
10. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 71
11. ^ a b c d 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. furto
12. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. furto
13. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. furto
14. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. furto
15. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 646
16. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. furto
17. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 4539
18. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. furto