lento

Forms

lento (feminine lenta, masculine plural lentos, feminine plural lentas, comparable, comparative mais lento, superlative o mais lento or lentíssimo, diminutive lentinho)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin lentus (“pliant, flexible; sticky; slow”).^[2][1][3] Houaiss treats the word as a learned one, in which the Latin sense of time, “slow”, prevailed.^[2] Wiktionary distinguishes two strands: the inherited word meant “damp, moist; soft”, as in the Old Spanish and Asturian equivalents, while the main sense “slow” may be learned.^[1]

The same Latin word is Galician lento, Asturian llentu, Catalan lent, French lent, Italian lento and Romanian lent.^[4][1] García de Diego records the word with the sense “damp, soft” in Galician, Portuguese and the dialect of Salamanca.^[5] In Spanish the sense “slow” belongs to a learned word of the 15th century, and the inherited outcome was Old Spanish liento “damp”, recorded in 1495.^[6][7]

De Vaan traces the Latin adjective to Proto-Italic *lento- (“soft”) and Proto-Indo-European *lent-o- (“soft, smooth, pliant”), with cognates such as Lithuanian lentà (“board, plank”) and Old High German lindi (“soft, mild”).^[8] Wiktionary relates it to the Indo-European word for the linden tree.^[1] The DHLF finds the origin obscure, and mentions a possible borrowing from Etruscan.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the chronicle of 1344, in the old sense “damp”: a land that has very good marinhas and damp places and very good meadows (ha muy boas marinhas e logares lentos e muy boos prados).^[10] Houaiss dates the sense “slow” to the 15th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Cardoso's Portuguese–Latin dictionary of 1569 glosses lento only with Latin subumidus “somewhat damp”, and Folqman (1755) still puts “somewhat damp” first, adding febre lenta “a slow fever”.^[11][12] Morais (1789) gives “somewhat damp” first too, and then “slow, unhurried”, fogo lento “a fire that burns slowly”, and passos lentos “slow steps”, from the Portuguese Eneida.^[13] In the 1813 edition he cites Camões's Lusíadas for the slow movement of the heavens.^[14] Vieira (1871) begins with “soft, flexible”, then “slow, lingering”, quoting a stanza of the Lusíadas on the people's base distrust, inerte e lenta.^[15]

Today “slow” is the main sense, and “damp” survives as a regional use in Portugal, where dialect surveys record the senses “slightly wet, dewy” and “fresh”.^[16][17] In music the word names a tempo slower than the adagio.^[18][19] In Brazil it also says of a person that he is slow to learn.^[17][2]

Timeline

• 1344 – logares lentos “damp places” in the chronicle of 1344.^[10]
• 15th century – first record of the sense “slow”.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses the word as Latin subumidus “somewhat damp”.^[11]
• 1755 – Folqman lists febre lenta “slow fever”.^[12]
• 1789 – Morais gives the senses “somewhat damp” and “slow”, and fogo lento.^[13]
• 1858 – first record of lentidão “slowness”.^[20]
• 1912 – Silva Bastos records the musical sense.^[18]

Meanings

Adjective

1. slow, lacking speed in movement or action: um comboio lento.^[2][16][21]
2. Unhurried, sluggish, phlegmatic.^[2][21]
3. Lasting a long time, drawn out;^[2][19] (medicine) of a fever, mild but persistent.^[2][19]
4. Weak, gentle in intensity;^[2][19] fogo lento “a low fire”.^[2][19]
5. Slow to react or understand: um aluno lento.^[2][16][17]
6. (nautical) Of a ship, answering the helm badly.^[2]
7. Lacking firmness; loose, slack, soft.^[2][21]
8. Slightly damp;^[2][16][17] (regional, Portugal) wet with dew.^[2][16][17]
9. Sticky, viscous.^[2][21]
10. (music) In a slow tempo, slower than the adágio; as a noun, a piece in such a tempo.^[2][19]

Word family

• lentamente

Related words

• lentidão
• Latin lentus
• Spanish lento

Usage notes

Houaiss records the doubled lento lento and lento e lento “little by little, gradually”.^[2]

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 n o p q r s Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. lento
3. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. lento
4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. lentus
6. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 630
7. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. lento
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. lent
10. ^ a b 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. lento
11. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. lento
12. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. lento
13. ^ 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. 2, 15
14. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 215
15. ^ 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, 1288
16. ^ a b c d e 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. lento
17. ^ a b c d e 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
18. ^ a b Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. lento
19. ^ a b c d e f Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. lento
20. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. lentidão
21. ^ a b c d Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5641