igual

Forms

igual m or f (plural iguais)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote igual, ygual and jgual.^[2][3] García de Diego also records the old Portuguese and Galician spelling egual and a Portuguese iugal.^[4] Feijó (1734) prescribes igual and igualar, not igoal and igoalar.^[5] According to Gonçalves Viana, cited by Nascentes, the word was respelt egual in the 19th century after the Latin aequalis, just as igreja was then respelt egreja.^[6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin aequālis (“equal, level; of the same age”), written Old Galician-Portuguese igual and Old Galician-Portuguese ygual in the oldest texts.^[2][7][1] The Latin adjective is formed from aequus (“level, even”) with the suffix -ālis.^[1]

The initial /i/ for Latin ⟨ae⟩ needs an explanation.^[8] Leite de Vasconcelos took it as the reduction of a diphthong /ei/, and Nunes proposed a Latin *adaequālis, pointing to the old forms Old Galician-Portuguese eigual and Old Galician-Portuguese iugal.^[6] Nascentes links the word with the old verb Old Galician-Portuguese iguar, which he derives through Old Galician-Portuguese eiguar from adaequō (“to make equal”).^[8]

The same Latin word is Galician igual, Spanish igual, Catalan igual, French égal and Italian uguale.^[9][1] The Spanish word comes from older Old Spanish egual, recorded from 1100 and usual in Berceo, beside which igual already appears in some 13th-century manuscripts.^[10][11] The French word is a remodelling after the Latin of older inherited forms.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the 13th century the Cantigas de Santa Maria have assi per ygual “just alike, in the same way”.^[3][2] The Crónica Troiana uses igual both for things of the same quality and for something of the same size all through, “as wide above as below and in the middle”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the cantigas d'escarnho igual is also a term of poetics: a song that is igual has correctly measured lines, and Afons' Eanes do Coton mocks a rival who nunca cantar igual fez nen rimou “never made a well-measured song nor rhymed one”.^[3][13][14]

Morais (1813) gives the senses of equal size or number, of the same nature or rank, consistent (as obras iguaes ás palavras), fair, and the poetic phrase esteve Marte igual for a battle that remained undecided.^[15] Figueiredo (1899) adds “smooth” and the noun “a person of the same condition or rank”, as in os meus iguaes.^[16]

Today the word is also a noun for the equals sign, and in Brazil an adverb, “in the same way”, and colloquially “all the same, nevertheless”.^[17][1][18] Southern Brazil uses the diminutive igualzinho as an intensive, “exactly alike”.^[18]

Timeline

• 13th century – per ygual in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[3][2]
• 1446 – igual in a Portuguese translation of the creed Quicunque vult.^[19]
• 1734 – Feijó prescribes the spelling igual against igoal.^[5]
• 1755 – Folqman glosses igual with Latin aequalis and par.^[20]
• 1813 – Morais lists the phrase esteve Marte igual.^[15]
• 1899 – Figueiredo records the noun “a person of the same rank”.^[16]

Meanings

Adjective

1. equal, the same in amount, size or value: Cortou o bolo em fatias iguais.^[2][21][1]
2. identical or very similar in kind, look or character: O meu casaco é igual ao teu.^[2][17]
3. Having the same rights, rank or condition as others: Os sócios são iguais em direitos.^[21][22]
4. constant, steady, unchanging: um ânimo sempre igual.^[17][23]
5. Level, smooth, without bumps or hollows.^[21][17]

Noun

1. A person of the same social condition or rank; a peer.^[17][24]
2. The equals sign (=).^[17][1]

Adverb

1. In the same way; alike.^[1][18]
2. (Brazil, colloquial) All the same, nevertheless.^[18]

Word family

• desigual
• desigualdade
• igualar
• igualdade
• igualitário
• igualmente

Related words

• Latin aequālis
• Galician igual

Usage notes

The phrase de igual para igual means “as equals, without difference of rank”.^[22][24]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. igual
3. ^ a b c d e 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. igual
4. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. aequalis
5. ^ a b Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. igual
6. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 272
7. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. igual
8. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. igual
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 238
10. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 438
11. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. igual
12. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. égal
13. ^ 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. igual
14. ^ 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. igual
15. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 128
16. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 725
17. ^ a b c d e f Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. igual
18. ^ a b c d Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. igual
19. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. igual
20. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. igual
21. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. igual
22. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5068
23. ^ 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. igual
24. ^ 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. igual