jovem

Forms

jovem m or f (plural jovens)^[1] Until the 20th-century reforms the word was often spelt joven, the form Bluteau, Vieira and Silva Bastos head;^[2][3][4][1] Wiktionary now lists joven as an obsolete spelling of jovem.^[2][3][4][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin iuvenis (“young; young man, young woman”).^[5][6][1] Houaiss notes that the Latin word was both an adjective and a noun meaning a youth.^[5] The same Latin word is Galician xove, Spanish joven, Catalan jove, French jeune, Italian giovane and Romanian june.^[7][1]

The word is recorded late: Lorenzo's chronology gives its first record from Gil Vicente, and Houaiss dates it to before 1536.^[8][5] Bluteau, in the early 18th century, called the word Castilian and sent the reader to moço, and Nascentes repeats that Bluteau thought it a Castilianism.^[2][9] For the Spanish word Corominas speaks of a semi-learned descendant of the Latin, rare in ordinary prose until the 17th century, when mozo was the usual word.^[10][11]

The Latin word goes back to *juwō and *h₂yéwHō (“young”), and is cognate with युवन् (yúvan) and the English word young.^[1] De Vaan reconstructs *juwen- and a PIE form meaning “who possesses vital force”.^[12] The Latin nominative is an innovation for an older ⟨*iuvō⟩, with the ending of the i-stems, while the other cases kept the endings of a consonant stem.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record that Lorenzo's chronology lists is in Gil Vicente, in the phrase os jóvenes amores “young loves”, with the Spanish-looking plural.^[8] Houaiss dates the word to before 1536 and gives its first sense as someone in youth, between childhood and adulthood.^[5]

Semantic evolution

For a long time jovem was a bookish word beside the everyday moço: Bluteau treated joven as Castilian and defined it by moço.^[2] Vieira in 1871 still explained it as the term doctors and philosophers used for the age between adolescence and manhood.^[3] Cunha records the noun “a young person” from the 16th century.^[6]

Modern dictionaries extend it from people to animals and plants that have not reached full growth, to things that have existed only for a short time, and to whatever is made by or for young people (música jovem).^[5][13][14] Wine tasters call a wine jovem when it is meant to be drunk within months, not aged.^[5][15] The word passed into Macanese as jóvi and into Tetum as joven.^[1]

Timeline

• before 1536 – Gil Vicente writes os jóvenes amores.^[8][5]
• 16th century – Cunha's first record of the word as a noun.^[6]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau calls joven a Castilian word.^[2]
• 1871 – Vieira heads the word joven and derives it from Latin.^[3]
• 1912 – Silva Bastos still spells it jóven, with jovem as the variant.^[16]

Meanings

Adjective

1. young: in the period of life between childhood and adulthood.^[5][14][1]
2. Young compared with others of the same group or profession, though already adult.^[5][14]
3. Belonging to or meant for young people: moda jovem.^[5][15]
4. Keeping the vigour and freshness of youth: uma avó muito jovem.^[5][17]
5. (of an animal or plant) Not yet fully grown.^[5][13]
6. recent; existing only for a short time: um país jovem.^[5][18]
7. (oenology) Of a wine: fruity, ready to drink soon after fermentation and not suited to ageing.^[5][15]

Noun

1. A young person, a youth.^[5][13][1]

Related words

• juvenil
• juventude
• rejuvenescer
• Latin iuvenis
• Galician xove
• Spanish joven

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. joven
3. ^ a b c d 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, 1206
4. ^ a b Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. jóven
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. jovem
6. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. jovem
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4642
8. ^ a b c 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. joven
9. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. s.v. jovem
10. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 529
11. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. joven
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. jovem
14. ^ 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. jovem
15. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5492
16. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. jovem
17. ^ 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. jovem
18. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. jovem