grave

Forms

grave m or f (plural graves, comparable, comparative mais grave, superlative o mais grave or gravíssimo)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin gravis (“heavy; serious”), written Old Galician-Portuguese grave in the oldest texts.^{[2][3][1][4][5]} Beside it the 13th-century poets also used Old Galician-Portuguese greu, which Cunha and the glossaries of the cantigas take as a borrowing of Old Occitan greu; this goes back to Vulgar Latin *grevis, a popular form, remade after levis (“light”).^[3][6][7]

The same Latin word is Spanish grave and Italian grave, while the popular form gave Italian greve, French grief, Catalan greu and Romanian greu.^[7]

The Latin adjective comes from Proto-Italic *gʷraus and Proto-Indo-European *gʷréh₂us (“heavy”), an old u-stem moved into the i-stems.^[1][8] Its cognates include Ancient Greek βαρύς (barús, “heavy”), Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌿𐍃 (kaurus, “heavy”) and Sanskrit गुरु (gurú, “heavy”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the cantigas it means “hard to bear, painful, unlucky”: Mais em grave dia naci “but on an evil day I was born” (Nuno Fernandes Torneol), Ai Deus! Que grave coita de sofrer “O God, what a heavy grief to bear!” (Pero Garcia Burgalês).^[9] The Cantigas de Santa Maria have graves pecados “grievous sins”, a wave fort'e mui grave “strong and very heavy”, and the construction seer grave de “to be hard to (do)”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau in 1712–1728 has “serious, dignified”, “trustworthy” (grave testemunha), “important” and the grave accent, the opposite of the acute.^[11] Morais records grave as the name of a silver coin of King Fernando (14th century), of which 120 made a mark.^[12][13][2] Vieira's dictionary of 1871–1874 gives the physics term, a body with weight that tends towards the centre of the earth, and Figueiredo in 1899 the low sound and the paroxytone word or line.^[14][15]

As a noun it names a low note in music and a slow, solemn tempo.^[2][1] In the Alentejo and the Algarve a grave is a person in Sunday best.^[16][4] In the army it is the command for a slow, cadenced march.^[2][17]

Timeline

• 13th century – grave dia and grave coita in the cantigas.^[9][10]
• 13th century – greu is used beside grave.^[6]
• 14th century – a silver coin of King Fernando is called grave.^[2][13]
• c. 1525 – the Memorial da Infanta Santa Joana uses the word.^[18]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau records the grave accent.^[11]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira records the physics sense.^[14]
• 1899 – Figueiredo records the low sound and the paroxytone sense.^[15]
• 1912 – Silva Bastos records the Alentejo sense “person in Sunday best”.^[16]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Serious, liable to have harmful or fatal consequences: um acidente grave.^[2][19][1]
2. Important, weighty.^[2][20]
3. Solemn, dignified; sober, stern (of a person or manner).^[2][20][1]
4. Hard to bear, painful; deep, intense.^[2][19]
5. Slow, measured: um passo grave.^[2][21]
6. (physics) Heavy, subject to gravity.^[2][20][1]
7. (acoustics, music) Low-pitched.^[2][1]
8. (grammar) Of the grave accent (`), which marks crase; formerly also, paroxytone (paroxítono).^[2][21]
9. (versification) Of a line ending in a paroxytone word.^[2][17]

Noun

1. (music) A low note; the low register.^[2][4][1]
2. (music) A slow, solemn tempo.^[2]
3. (physics) A heavy body.^[2][1]
4. A silver coin of King Fernando I.^[2][4]
5. (Alentejo) A person in formal dress.^[4][16]

Interjection

1. (military) The command for a slow, cadenced march.^[2][17]

Word family

• gravemente
• graveza

Related words

• gravidade
• agravar
• grávido
• Latin gravis
• Spanish grave

Usage notes

Grave is also a form of the verb gravar “to engrave, record”, a different word.^[22]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. grave
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. grave
4. ^ 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. grave
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. grave
6. ^ 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. greu
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3855
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b 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. grave
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. grave
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. grave
12. ^ 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, 69
13. ^ a b 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. 2, 23
14. ^ a b 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, 917
15. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 679
16. ^ a b c Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. grave
17. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. grave
18. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. grave
19. ^ a b Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. grave
20. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. grave
21. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 4779
22. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. grave