imperatriz

Forms

imperatriz f (plural imperatrizes)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote emperadriz, enperadriz and enperadrix.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin imperātrīx (“she who commands”), written Old Galician-Portuguese emperadriz in the oldest texts.^[2][3] Nascentes calls it semi-learned, and Wiktionary a learned borrowing from Latin.^[4][1] The Latin word is formed from imperō (“to command”) with the feminine agent suffix -trīx, the feminine of imperātor, which gave imperador.^[5][1][6]

The same Latin word is Galician emperatriz, Old Spanish emperatrix, Old French empereriz and Italian imperatrice.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the 13th century the Cantigas de Santa Maria speak of a emperadriz de Roma “the empress of Rome”, and call the Virgin Emperadriz do Ceo “Empress of Heaven”.^[3] The Crónica Geral has enperadrix and emperadariz.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The medieval word named the wife of an emperor and, as a title of the Virgin, the queen of heaven.^[3] A private letter of 1599 already writes Imperatriz beside the abbreviated ẽperatriz.^[7] Vieira (1871–1874) defines it as the wife of an emperor, or a woman who reigns over an empire in her own right.^[8] Figueiredo (1899) also has it as an adjective, “domineering”.^[9] In Brazil it names the giant moth also called imperador, and the woman who leads a samba de bumbo group; in the Azores, the woman who organises the festivities of the Holy Spirit.^[2][10][11]

Timeline

• 13th century – emperadriz in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[3][2]
• 1599 – Imperatriz in a private letter.^[7]
• 1755 – Folqman lists Imperatriz, Latin imperatrix.^[12]
• 1899 – Figueiredo records the adjective imperatriz “domineering”.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. An empress, a woman who rules an empire.^[2][13][1]
2. The wife or widow of an emperor.^[2][13][1]
3. (figurative) A domineering woman.^[2][14]
4. (Brazil, entomology) The giant moth Thysania agrippina, also called imperador.^[2][6]
5. (Azores) The woman in charge of the festivities of the Holy Spirit.^[11]

Related words

• imperador
• império
• imperar
• Latin imperātrīx

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. imperatriz
3. ^ 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. emperadriz
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. imperatriz
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. imperātrīx
6. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. imperador
7. ^ 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. imperatriz
8. ^ 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, 1038
9. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 732
10. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. imperatriz
11. ^ 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. imperatriz
12. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. imperatriz
13. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. imperatriz
14. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5108