inteiro

Forms

inteiro (feminine inteira, masculine plural inteiros, feminine plural inteiras)^[1] The older form is enteiro, recorded in a Latin charter of 1093 and in the 13th century;^[2][3] inteiro appears in the 14th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin integer (“untouched, whole”), through the popular form, written Old Galician-Portuguese enteiro in the oldest texts.^[2][4][1] In spoken Latin the stress moved to the second syllable, and the /g/ before /r/ became /i/.^[4][5][6] The initial ⟨in⟩ of the modern form was restored after the Latin word.^[4][1] The learned doublet is íntegro.^[2][1]

The same Latin word is Galician enteiro, Spanish entero, French entier, Italian intero and Romanian întreg.^[7][1] The Latin adjective is formed from in- (“not”) and the root of tangō (“to touch”), so that it first meant “untouched”;^[8][1] Umbrian has a related form.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first date, 1093, is the form enteiro in a Latin charter.^[2] In the Cantigas de Santa Maria the word already has the senses “whole, complete” (un an'enteir' “a whole year”, un gran livr'enteiro “a whole big book”) and “intact” (a virgin who stayed enteira).^[3]

Semantic evolution

Cardoso in 1569 glosses it with Latin integer, and Bluteau in 1712 defines it as having all its parts.^[9][10] Morais in 1813 adds the arithmetical sense “without fractions” and dia inteiro “a whole day”.^[11] Figurative senses, “upright, incorruptible” and “without reservation”, stand beside the physical ones.^[2][12]

Of animals it means “not castrated”, a sense common in rural Brazil and Portugal, and irmãos inteiros are children of the same father and mother.^[2][13] The word passed into Malay as antero and into the Malay of Ambon and the North Moluccas as anteru.^[1]

Timeline

• 1093 – enteiro in a Latin charter.^[2]
• 13th century – enteiro in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[3][2]
• 14th century – the spelling inteiro;^[2][14] enteiro in the Trasladação de S. Nicolau.^[2][14]
• 1505 – first record of inteireza.^[15]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary has inteiro.^[9]
• 1589 – first record of inteirar.^[16]
• 1813 – Morais records the arithmetical sense.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. whole, entire, with all its parts: Comeu a pizza inteira.^[2][17][1]
2. Not broken or damaged; intact.^[2][1]
3. Made of one piece; undivided.^[2][18]
4. Of a male animal, not castrated.^[2][13]
5. Of siblings, having the same father and mother.^[2]
6. (figurative) Upright, incorruptible, íntegro.^[2][19]
7. (figurative) Total, without reservation: Tem o meu inteiro apoio.^[2][1]
8. (mathematics) Of a number, without fractions.^[2][1]

Noun

1. (mathematics) An integer.^[2][1]

Word family

• inteiramente
• inteirar
• inteireza
• inteiriço

Related words

• integral
• íntegro
• integrar
• Latin integer
• Galician enteiro
• Spanish entero

Usage notes

Por inteiro means “completely”.^[2][19] In Portugal primo inteiro and tia inteira have been recorded for a first cousin and an aunt in the first degree.^[20]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. inteiro
3. ^ a b c d 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. enteiro
4. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. inteiro
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 278
6. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 642
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4479
8. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. integer
9. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. inteiro
10. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. inteiro
11. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 170
12. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 765
13. ^ a b Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. inteiro
14. ^ a b Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. enteiro
15. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. inteireza
16. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. inteirar
17. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. inteiro
18. ^ 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. inteiro
19. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. inteiro
20. ^ 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. inteiro