levante

levante¹ east

Pronunciation

• Brazil: /leˈvɐ̃.t͡ʃi/^[1]
• Portugal: /lɨˈvɐ̃.tɨ/^[1]
• Northern, Portugal: /lɨˈbɐ̃.tɨ/, [lɨˈβɐ̃.tɨ]^[1]

Forms

levante m (plural levantes)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the east is borrowed from Italian levante (“east, the quarter where the sun rises”), according to Houaiss, Nascentes and Aurélio.^[2][3][4] The Italian noun, recorded from the second half of the 13th century, is the present participle of levare (“to raise”) used of the rising sun, the counterpart of ponente (“west”).^[5] Nascentes cites Meyer-Lübke's REW for this Italian source.^[6]

Cunha derives the noun instead from levantar, first used as an adjective in the phrase “rising sun”.^[7] The DLP, Priberam and Porto Editora take it straight from Latin levāns, the present participle of levō (“to raise, lift”).^[8][9][10] Nocentini counts the Portuguese word, Spanish levante and French levant as formations parallel to the Italian word rather than loans from it.^[5] The Latin verb is formed from levis (“light, not heavy”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the sense “east” to the 15th century, from the slips of Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese.^[2] Cunha himself puts the word in the 13th century.^[2][7] Pereira's Thesouro of 1697 translates it with Latin oriens “east”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712–1728) defines the word as the cardinal point where the stars rise for us; the lands, seas, winds and peoples “of the Levant” are those lying towards the sunrise, and Camões's ondas do Levante “waves of the Levant” are the eastern sea.^[12] Morais (1789) adds the plural levantes for the east winds.^[13] Vieira quotes António Tenreiro's Itinerário for a harbour facing do levante, opposed to one facing do poente “west”.^[14]

By extension the word came to mean the region lying towards the sunrise and, with a capital, the countries of the eastern Mediterranean, and in meteorology the east wind of the Mediterranean.^[2] The adjectives levantisco (1552) and levântico (1595), both meaning “of the Levant”, are formed on it, as is the usual levantino.^[15][16]

Timeline

• 13th century – Cunha's date for the noun in the sense “east”.^[7]
• 15th century – Houaiss's first record of the sense, from Cunha's slips of medieval Portuguese.^[2]
• 1552 – first record of levantisco “of the Levant”.^[15]
• 1595 – first record of levântico, in the same sense.^[16]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses levante as Latin oriens.^[11]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau explains the word and quotes Camões's ondas do Levante.^[12]
• 1789 – Morais records the plural levantes “east winds”.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. The east, the point of the horizon where the sun rises: As janelas da sala dão para o levante.^[2][1][9]
2. The region lying to the east of the speaker.^[2][9]
3. (with a capital) The Levant, the countries of the eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor.^[2][4][1]
4. (meteorology) A strong east wind of the Mediterranean, reaching the coasts of southern France and eastern and southern Spain.^[2][4][8]

Word family

• levantino

levante² rising, uprising

Pronunciation

• Brazil: /leˈvɐ̃.t͡ʃi/^[1]
• Portugal: /lɨˈvɐ̃.tɨ/^[1]
• Northern, Portugal: /lɨˈbɐ̃.tɨ/, [lɨˈβɐ̃.tɨ]^[1]

Forms

levante m (plural levantes)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the act of rising is a back-formation from Portuguese levantar (“to raise; to rise”).^[2][4][6] Cunha dates this noun, in the sense “rebellion”, to the 16th century.^[7] The verb is Old Galician-Portuguese levantar in the oldest texts, from Vulgar Latin *levantō, built on levāns, the present participle of levō (“to raise”).^[1][7][17] An older noun of the same kind, alevanto “revolt, mutiny”, a back-formation from alevantar, is recorded from the 15th century.^[18]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is of 1563.^[2] Morais quotes H. Pinto for the figurative phrase estar de levante nas coisas do mundo “to be unsettled in the things of the world”.^[13]

Semantic evolution

Morais (1789) explains estar de levante as the opposite of estar de assento “to be settled”: to be about to move, not at rest;^[13][19] estar para fazer levante meant to be about to rise in revolt.^[13][19] The senses “revolt, mutiny” and “act of raising” remain the main ones today.^[2][9]

In Brazil the word also names an aromatic mint, also called alevante, grown for menthol.^[4][2] In Rio Grande do Sul it is the raising of the water level in irrigated rice fields so that the water floods the field evenly.^[20] Silva Bastos records an Alentejo sense “increase (of a rent)”.^[21] In Trás-os-Montes está de levante is said of the weather just after a rainy spell.^[22]

Timeline

• 15th century – first record of the older alevanto “revolt”.^[18]
• 1563 – Houaiss's first record of levante “act of rising”.^[2]
• 16th century – Cunha's date for the sense “rebellion”.^[7]
• 1789 – Morais explains estar de levante and fazer levante.^[13]
• 1922 – Figueiredo's third edition lists alevante in the same sense.^[23]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of raising (levantar) or rising.^[2][4]
2. A revolt, uprising or mutiny: O levante dos camponeses durou três dias.^[2][1][9]
3. (Brazil, botany) A strongly aromatic mint (Mentha sylvestris), cultivated for menthol; also called alevante.^[2][4]
4. (hunting) The flushing of game from its cover.^[2][24]

Adjective

1. (construction) Of a movable bridge: whose deck rises parallel to itself.^[2][4]
2. (heraldry) Of the sun: issuing from the dexter corner of the shield.^[2]