lerdo

Forms

lerdo (feminine lerda, masculine plural lerdos, feminine plural lerdas, comparable, diminutive lerdinho, augmentative lerdão)^[1]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Spanish lerdo (“slow, dull”), as Houaiss, Wiktionary, the DLP and the Porto dictionary take it.^[2][1][3][4] Cunha and Nascentes call it of obscure or doubtful origin.^[5][6] The Spanish word itself is of uncertain origin.^[2][7]

Corominas weighs two explanations: the word may belong with French lourd (“heavy”), Catalan llord (“filthy”), Occitan lord (“dirty”) and Italian lordo (“dirty”), usually traced to Latin lūridus (“sallow, ghastly yellow”) mixed up with Ancient Greek λορδός (lordós, “bent forward”); but the vowel /e/ of the Spanish word cannot come from an older /ue/, since the word is also Basque and Galician-Portuguese, so it probably has nothing to do with that family and may be a pre-Roman word, perhaps related to Basque lerde (“drool”) and to lerdo (“resin”), from ler (“pine”).^[8][2] He leaves open whether it is native in Galician-Portuguese or taken from Castilian.^[8] The REW puts the Spanish and Portuguese word under the Latin adjective, and Nascentes reports that Cortesão derived the Portuguese one from Spanish after Meyer-Lübke.^[9][10] Aurélio suggests the Catalan word through Spanish, and Vieira derived it from the French one.^[11][12]

Bluteau in 1712 thought it came from the Greek word for “bent”, which he believed was also the source of the Italian, French and Spanish words.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first Portuguese record is a text of 1562–1575, in the sense “moving with difficulty, slow”.^[2] Cunha dates the word to the 16th century.^[5] In Spanish it appears first in Juan Ruiz, who calls a gullible mountain woman a serrana lerda.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The Spanish word moved between “dull-witted” and “slow, heavy in movement”.^[8] In Portuguese Bluteau gives “without skill, clumsy, coarse” and Folqman much the same, while Morais in 1813 defines it as heavy and slow-moving, with the negative não foi lerdo em “he lost no time in”.^[13][14][15] Corominas notes that Frei Luís de Sousa applied it to a person in the sense “slow” in 1619.^[8] Today it means slow, dull or coarse.^[2]

In the south of Brazil it is the common word for slow, with comparisons such as lerdo como boi carreteiro “slow as a cart ox”.^[16] In Piauí it can also mean “a great deal of”.^[17]

Timeline

• c. 1330 – in Spanish, Juan Ruiz's serrana lerda.^[8][7]
• 1562–1575 – first Portuguese record.^[2]
• 1619 – Frei Luís de Sousa uses it for a slow person.^[8]
• 1712 – Bluteau defines it as clumsy and coarse and derives it from Greek.^[13]
• 1813 – Morais defines it as heavy and slow-moving.^[15]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira derives it from French lourd.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. slow or heavy in movement; sluggish: O cavalo velho ia cada vez mais lerdo.^[2][11][1]
2. Slow-witted; dull, stupid.^[2][18][1]
3. Coarse, rude.^[2][3]

Word family

• lerdeza
• lerdaço

Related words

• Spanish lerdo
• French lourd

Usage notes

Houaiss gives the stressed vowel as open /é/, the Priberam as closed /ê/.^[2][18] Wiktionary records both in Brazil.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. lerdo
3. ^ a b 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. lerdo
4. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5647
5. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. lerdo
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. lerdo
7. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. lerdo
8. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 633
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5176
10. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 296
11. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. lerdo
12. ^ a b 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, 1290
13. ^ 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. lerdo
14. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. lerdo
15. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 215
16. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. lerdo
17. ^ Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. lerdo
18. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. lerdo