impotência

Forms

impotência f (plural impotências)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin impotentia (“lack of power or strength”), recorded from about 1543.^[2][3][4] Nascentes calls it a semi-learned word.^[5] Wiktionary analyses it within Portuguese as im- and potência.^[1]

The Latin noun is formed on impotēns (“powerless; unbridled”) with the suffix -ia.^[6] In classical Latin it meant weakness and helplessness, but more often lack of self-restraint, violent behaviour.^[6][7] The medieval canon-law sense, a defect that makes a person unfit for intercourse, is recorded by Du Cange.^[8] The adjective impotente is from the Latin participle and is recorded from 1563.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the first record to about 1543, in the sense “lack of power or means”.^[2] Cunha puts it in the 16th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Morais in 1813 gives both the general and the sexual senses: lack of power, a physical or moral impossibility, for instance one caused by a law that forbids something, and lack of the power to beget.^[10] Vieira in the 1870s marks it as a medical term and adds the figurative sense “lack of vigour or energy”.^[11] Today the general sense and the medical one, a man's inability to have or keep an erection, are both current.^[2][4][12]

Timeline

• c. 1543 – first record.^[2]
• 1563 – first record of the adjective impotente.^[9]
• 1734 – Feijó lists the spelling Impotência.^[13]
• 1813 – Morais defines both the general sense and the inability to beget.^[10]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira labels it a medical term.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. Lack of power, strength or means to do something; impossibilidade: a impotência do governo perante a crise.^[2][4]
2. The quality or state of being impotente.^[2][14]
3. Physical incapacity; lack of strength.^[2][15]
4. (medicine) Male sexual impotence: inability to achieve or keep an erection.^[2][4][12]

Related words

• impotente
• potência
• poder
• Latin impotentia

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. impotência
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. poder
4. ^ 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. impotência
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. impotência
6. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. impotentia
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. impotentia
8. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. s.v. impotentia 2
9. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. impotente
10. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 138
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5126
13. ^ 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. impotência
14. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. impotência
15. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. impotência