impostor

Forms

impostor m (plural impostores, feminine impostora, feminine plural impostoras)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin impostor (“deceiver”), a learned word.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin noun is a later form of impositor, an agent noun of Latin impōnō (“to place upon; to impose on, deceive”).^[2][5][6] Several dictionaries, among them Nascentes's larger dictionary and Michaelis, give the fuller form as the source.^[7][8][9] Lewis and Short call the word post-classical: it is found in the Digest of Roman law and in Jerome.^[6][5]

It belongs with impostura, also a learned word of the 16th century, and with impor.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cunha dates the word to the 16th century.^[3] Houaiss's first record is the Monarquia Lusitana of 1672, and Bluteau quotes the same work for the plural impostores.^[2][12] The sense there is “deceiver, cheat”.^[2][12]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau and Morais give only the synonym embusteiro “cheat”, Morais adding embaidor “swindler”.^[12][13] Vieira's dictionary distinguishes the hypocrite who passes himself off as virtuous and the preacher of a false doctrine, quoting the charge of the Jews that Christ was an impostor.^[14] Silva Bastos (1912) adds the sense “vain”, which Houaiss also records.^[15][2] In southern Brazil the adjective is used in the countryside of a vain, arrogant, presumptuous person.^[16] The sense “someone who uses a false identity” is the one Wiktionary gives first.^[1]

Timeline

• 16th century – first record of the Portuguese word, as Cunha dates it.^[3]
• 1562 – Cardoso's Latin–Portuguese dictionary renders Latin impostor as o enganador “the deceiver”.^[17]
• 1672 – impostores in the Monarquia Lusitana.^[2][12]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as embusteiro.^[13]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira separates the hypocrite and the false teacher.^[14]
• 1912 – Silva Bastos adds “vain”.^[15]

Meanings

Adjective and noun

1. (One) who practises impostura; a cheat, embusteiro.^[2][4]
2. (One) who takes advantage of other people's credulity or ignorance to deceive them.^[2][8]
3. (One) who passes himself off as someone he is not; an impostor.^[18][1]
4. (One) who spreads a false religious doctrine.^[2][8]
5. (One) who is full of himself; vain, conceited.^[2][18]
6. (One) who falsely accuses others; a slanderer.^[19][18]

Related words

• impostura
• impor
• Latin impostor

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. impostor
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. impostor
4. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. impostor
5. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. impostor
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. impostor
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 274
8. ^ a b c 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. impostor
9. ^ 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. impostor
10. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. impostura
11. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. impostura
12. ^ a b c d Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. impostor
13. ^ a b 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, 700
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, 1050
15. ^ a b Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. impostor
16. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. impostor
17. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1562), Dictionarium juventuti studiosae admodum frugiferum, Coimbra: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. impostor
18. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5126
19. ^ 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. impostor