interesse

Forms

interesse m (plural interesses)^[1] Fifteenth-century texts spell it jnteresse, interese and ynterese.^[2] A letter of 1538 has ymterese.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin interesse (“compensation; interest on money”), the infinitive of the classical verb “to be between; to matter, concern” used as a noun.^[4][2][1] Houaiss starts from the impersonal use of the verb, “it matters, it is in someone's interest”.^[2] The verb is made of inter- (“between”) and sum (“to be”).^[5][1]

Nascentes notes that the infinitive was used as a noun from the 13th century and came into Portuguese by the learned route.^[6] In medieval Latin it meant the damages owed for breaking a contract, and the interest on a capital.^[7][8] Bluteau, in the 18th century, already derived it from the Latin impersonal verb in phrases meaning “it matters to me”.^[9]

The same noun is Spanish interés, first recorded in 1438.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 15th century.^[2][4] The oldest dictionaries give it the sense “profit, gain”: Barbosa (1611) and Pereira (1697) render it with Latin lucrum and quaestus.^[11][12]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century the word meant gain and advantage: in a pastoral eclogue Camões has a shepherdess say that she sought knowledge, not gain (Que buscava saber, não interesse).^[13] Bluteau (1712–1728) defines it as the profit or advantage one draws or hopes for from something, and notes that in a phrase such as suâ interesse the same form is a Portuguese noun and a Latin verb.^[9] Morais (1789) adds the legal sense, the sum of a lost profit owed by someone who does not pay a debt in time, and the phrase servir sem interesse “to serve without payment”.^[14]

Figueiredo (1899) has the modern senses beside the old: selfish greed, importance, attraction and sympathy, zeal, and interest on capital.^[15] The psychological sense, the attention a thing draws, is now the main one in the dictionaries of Portugal.^[16][17]

Timeline

• 15th century – first records, spelt jnteresse, interese and ynterese.^[2][4]
• 1538 – ymterese in a private letter.^[3]
• 1611 – Barbosa renders it “profit” and lists interesseyro.^[11]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau derives it from Latin mea interest.^[9]
• 1789 – Morais gives the legal sense “lost profit owed” and servir sem interesse.^[14]
• 1899 – Figueiredo lists “selfish greed”, “attraction” and “interest on capital”.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. What is important, useful or advantageous to someone; benefit, advantage: por interesse da comunidade.^[2][18]
2. The curiosity or attention one feels for what seems worth notice: ouviu tudo com grande interesse.^[2][16][1]
3. The quality of something that holds the attention: um livro sem interesse.^[2][16]
4. Importance given to something.^[2]
5. Goodwill and concern for a person.^[2][19]
6. Attachment to one's own advantage; self-interest, greed.^[2][20][1]
7. A share in the profits of a firm.^[2][17]
8. (finance) Income from the interest on a capital; juro.^[2][18]

Word family

• interessar
• interesseiro
• desinteresse

Related words

• interessante
• Spanish interés

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. interesse
3. ^ 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. interesse
4. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. interesse
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. intersum
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. interesse
7. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. interesse
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. interesse
9. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. interesse
10. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. interés
11. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. interesse
12. ^ 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. interesse
13. ^ 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, 1142
14. ^ 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, 729
15. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. interesse
16. ^ a b c 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. interesse
17. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5338
18. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. interesse
19. ^ 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. interesse
20. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. interesse