humanista

Forms

humanista m or f by sense (plural humanistas)^[1] The same form serves for the noun and the adjective, masculine and feminine.^[2][3]

Etymology

Houaiss, Cunha, Aurélio and the DLP take it as borrowed from French humaniste.^[2][4][3][5] Houaiss dates the French word to 1580, forty years after his first Portuguese record of 1540.^[2]

Others treat it as formed from Portuguese humano + -ista: so Vieira in 1873, Silva Bastos, Nascentes in 1955, Wiktionary, Priberam and Michaelis.^{[6][7][8][1][9][10]} DELPo gives the Portuguese formation and compares the French word.^[11] The base humano is from Latin hūmānus.^[4]

The abstract noun humanismo came much later: Cunha dates it to 1899 and takes it from French humanisme.^[4][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is of 1540, as an adjective.^[2] Cunha puts the word in the 16th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was the scholarly one: Bluteau (1712–1728) defines a humanista as someone devoted to the humanities, learned in “human letters”, and quotes a line on the great “Philosophos Humanistas” who flourished at the University of Évora.^[13] Vieira in the 1870s and Figueiredo in 1899 still define it as one who teaches or is versed in the humanities.^[6][14]

The modern dictionaries add the historical sense, the Renaissance scholars who studied and spread the works of Greek and Latin antiquity, and the philosophical one, a follower of humanism as a doctrine that puts the human being at the centre.^[2][5] The adjective humanístico was formed on it;^[15] Houaiss first finds it in Figueiredo's dictionary of 1913.^[15]

Timeline

• 1540 – first record, as an adjective.^[2]
• 1580 – Houaiss's date for the French word humaniste.^[2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines humanista as one given to the humanities.^[13]
• 1873 – Vieira derives it from humano with the suffix -ista.^[6]
• 1899 – first record of humanismo, from French.^[4]
• 1913 – humanístico in Figueiredo's dictionary.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person versed in the humanities, the study of classical languages and literature.^[2][3][5]
2. (history) A Renaissance scholar who studied and spread the works of Greek and Roman antiquity: os humanistas italianos do século XV.^[2][5]
3. A follower of humanismo as a philosophy that values human abilities: uma humanista convicta.^[2][3][1]

Adjective

1. Of or relating to humanism; humanístico: a tradição humanista.^[2][3][16]

Word family

• humanístico

Related words

• humanismo
• humano
• humanidade
• French humaniste

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. humanista
3. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. humanista
4. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. humano
5. ^ 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. humanista
6. ^ a b c 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, 992
7. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. humanista
8. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 269
9. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. humanista
10. ^ 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. humanista
11. ^ 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. humanista
12. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. humanismo
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. humanista
14. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 712
15. ^ a b c Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. humanístico
16. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5027