herói

Forms

herói m (plural heróis, feminine heroína, feminine plural heroínas)^[1] Cunha records the 15th-century spelling eroe.^[2] Bluteau (1712–1728) heads the word heroe, the spelling still found in a private letter of 1790 and as heróe in 1819.^[3][4][5] Wiktionary lists heroe and heróe as older forms.^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin hērōs (“hero, demigod”), from Ancient Greek ἥρως (hḗrōs, “chief, noble; demigod, hero”).^[6][2][1][7] Houaiss dates it to the 15th century from Cunha's slips of medieval Portuguese.^[6]

Nascentes explains the ending from heroa, a Greek accusative used in Latin, which he thinks was Latinised as *heroe(m).^[8][9] Aurélio also starts from that Latin form.^[10] The Latin word also gave Spanish héroe, first recorded in 1490.^[11]

The Greek word meant “lord, hero” in Homer, and Mycenaean already has a compound meaning “thrice-hero”.^[12] Its origin is uncertain: Beekes considers it probably Pre-Greek, comparing the name of the goddess Ἥρα (Hḗra).^[1][12] The old link with Latin servō (“to protect”) and a root Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to watch over, protect”), which Wiktionary's Portuguese entry still gives, does not fit the Mycenaean form, which has no /w/.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha place the first record in the 15th century.^[6][2] Cunha gives the senses “man extraordinary for his deeds in war” and “protagonist of a literary work” for the word.^[6][2] The Greek and Latin sense, the son of a god and a mortal, came with the classical texts.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau describes heroe as the title the ancients gave to men famous for valour, birth or virtue, and derives it, after the fashion of his time, from a Hebrew word for “valiant”.^[3] Caldas Aulete's dictionary illustrates the warlike sense with lines of Camões, who writes heróis.^[13] Figueiredo (1899) adds a disparaging use for a man notorious for his excesses, and the DLP still records a man who behaves recklessly.^[14][15]

From the warrior the word widened to anyone admired for courage, endurance or achievement, to the central figure of an event, and to the main character of a novel, play or film.^[6][13] Wiktionary lists Macanese hirói as a descendant.^[1]

Timeline

• 15th century – first record, spelt eroe.^[6][2]
• 17th century – Cunha's first date for the feminine heroína.^[2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau heads the word heroe.^[3]
• 1790 – Heroe in a private letter.^[4]
• 1819 – heróe in a printed text.^[5]
• 1899 – Figueiredo spells Herói and records the disparaging sense.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. (mythology) The son of a god or goddess and a human being; a demigod (semideus).^[6][1]
2. (mythology) A mortal raised to divine honours after death.^[6][16]
3. A hero: a person who stands out for courage, deeds in war, strength of character or magnanimity (magnanimidade): Os bombeiros foram os heróis da noite.^[6][10][1]
4. A person who bears great misfortune with exemplary firmness, or risks their life for duty or for others.^[6][16]
5. A person famous for their achievements in a field.^[6]
6. The central figure of an event or a period.^[6][13]
7. A person who, for good or bad reasons, is the centre of attention.^[6][10][17]
8. The protagonist (protagonista) of a literary work, play or film.^[6][10][1]
9. (informal) A person who arouses great admiration; an idol (ídolo).^[6][13]
10. (derogatory) A person who behaves recklessly, or is notorious for misconduct.^[15][17]

Word family

• heroificar
• anti-herói

Related words

• heroico
• heroína
• heroísmo
• heroide
• Latin hērōs
• Spanish héroe

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 Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. herói
3. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. heroe
4. ^ 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. herói
5. ^ a b NEHiLP – Núcleo de Apoio à Pesquisa em Etimologia e História da Língua Portuguesa, Universidade de São Paulo, DELPo: Dicionário Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa (online database), p. s.v. herói
6. ^ 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. herói
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. hērōs
8. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. herói
9. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 258
10. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. herói
11. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. héroe
12. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. ἥρως
13. ^ a b c d 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. herói
14. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. herói
15. ^ a b 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. herói
16. ^ 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. herói
17. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. herói