Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word inimizade
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Inherited
- First attested
- 1209 a municipal charter, spelt inimizat More words from the 13th century
- Inherited from
- Latin *inimicitas
- Ultimate origin
- Latin amō
Pronunciation
Forms
inimizade f (plural inimizades)[1] Medieval spellings include inimizat (1209), himizade and emmizade (1272), emijzade, eemizade and enamizade.[2][3][4] The modern inimizade is recorded from the 17th century.[3][2] Houaiss also notes immizidade in 1790.[4]
Etymology
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *inimīcitās (“enmity”), a form beside the classical noun Latin inimīcitia, written Old Galician-Portuguese eemizade in the medieval texts.[4][2][1][5][6][7] It is built like amizade, from *amīcitās.[4][8] The modern form is a semi-learned remodelling after inimigo, as Wiktionary and Nascentes say.[1][5] Silva Bastos, Vieira and Michaelis analyse it instead as a negative prefix added to the noun for friendship, Michaelis with a change of vowel.[9][10][11]
The Latin adjective inimīcus (“enemy”) is formed from in- (“not”) and amīcus (“friend”), from amō (“to love”); it first named a private enemy, as opposed to hostis, the public enemy.[1][12] The same Vulgar Latin noun is Spanish enemistad, recorded in Spanish from the 13th century; the modern Galician word is enemistade, taken from Spanish.[13][2]
Earliest recorded meaning
A municipal charter of 1209 has qui por inimizat uinere de outra uila a esta “whoever comes to this town from another because of enmity”.[2] A law of 1272 says se alguem ouuer himizade contra sseu vizinho “if anyone bears enmity to his neighbour”, with emmizade in another manuscript.[2] The Crónica Geral tells of grande eemizade que tĩjna ẽno curaçõ “great enmity that he had in his heart”.[2]
Semantic evolution
The sense has stayed the same since the medieval texts.[2][4] Pereira (1697) glosses it with Latin inimicitia, simultas and discordia, and Folqman (1755) has inimizade encuberta “hidden enmity”.[14][15] Morais (1813) explains the cartas de inimizade of the Ordenações: letters that declared one man the enemy of another and so barred him from accusing or testifying against him, abolished by a law of 1608; he also gives deixar inimizades “to make peace”.[16] The modern dictionaries add “discord, disagreement” and, by extension, the breaking off of relations.[6][17]
Timeline
- 1209 – inimizat in a municipal charter.[2]
- 1272 – himizade and emmizade in a law.[2]
- 14th century – emijzade.[3]
- 17th century – the modern spelling inimizade.[3][2]
- 1642 – inimisade in a private letter.[18]
- 1697 – Pereira glosses Inimizade with Latin inimicitia.[14]
- 1790 – the spelling immizidade.[4]
- 1813 – Morais explains the cartas de inimizade.[16]
Meanings
Noun
- Lack of friendship; enmity, hatred, ill will: A inimizade entre as duas famílias durou décadas.[4][6][7][19]
- discord, disagreement; by extension, a breaking off of relations.[6][17]
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. eemizade
- ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. amizade
- ^ a b c d e f g Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. inimizade
- ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. inimizade
- ^ 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. inimizade
- ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. inimizade
- ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. amizade
- ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. inimizade
- ^ 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, 1112
- ^ 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. inimizade
- ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. ennemi
- ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. enemistad
- ^ a b Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. inimizade
- ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. inimizade
- ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 162
- ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. inimizade
- ^ 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. inimizade
- ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5278
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Inimizade.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/inimizade. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.
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