limpo

Forms

limpo (feminine limpa, masculine plural limpos, feminine plural limpas, comparable, comparative mais limpo, superlative o mais limpo or limpíssimo)^[1] The medieval texts write limpio and linpio (13th century), limpo, linpo, limpho and lipho (14th) and lympo (15th).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin limpidus (“clear, transparent”), written Old Galician-Portuguese limpio and Old Galician-Portuguese linpio in the 13th century and Old Galician-Portuguese limpo from the 14th.^[2][3][1][4] Houaiss and Aurélio call it the popular form of the word whose learned doublet is límpido, recorded from 1572.^[2][5][3][1]

The same Latin word is Galician limpo, Spanish limpio, Asturian llimpiu and Romanian limpede “clear”.^[6][1] Corominas notes that only Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian, with a few Italian and Rhaeto-Romance dialects, inherited it; the Sardinian and Sicilian forms are borrowed from Spanish.^[7] The Spanish word is recorded from about 1140.^[8]

The origin of the Latin word is unclear.^[9][1] De Vaan notes that limpor (“a clear liquid”) is attested earlier and may be its base, and reports the view that the Latin adjective is a dialectal, Sabellic form.^[9] Wiktionary also gives the traditional link with a PIE root for shining (*leh₂p-, as in λάμπω (lámpō, “I shine”)) and a link with lympha (“clear water”), a link the OLD also suggests.^[1][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest records, from the 13th century, already have the senses Cunha gives as the oldest: clear, transparent, without stains.^[3][2] Nascentes, who thinks the sense moved from “transparent” to “clean” because glass must be clean to be clear, quotes a 14th-century Latin text with tritico limpio “clean wheat” in it.^[11][4]

Semantic evolution

Cardoso (1569) translates limpo with Latin tersus and mundus “clean”.^[12] Bluteau (1716) defines it as the opposite of dirty and records phrases still in use, among them pôr alguma cousa em limpo “to copy something out fair” and tirar a sua a limpo “to come out of an affair with one's credit intact”.^[13] Folqman (1755) has juiz limpo de mãos “an incorruptible judge” and limpo de sangue, said of an Old Christian of “clean blood”.^[14]

From “clean” the adjective came to mean weeded (of land), pure and unmixed, clear (of the sky), honest, and carefully done.^[2][5] The slang senses are modern: Houaiss has “not carrying weapons or drugs” and “free of anything illegal” as underworld usage, and Aulete and Porto record “penniless”, in Brazil and in the phrase estar limpo in Portugal.^[2][15][16] Used as a noun, limpo is a stretch of ground without vegetation.^[17][18]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records, spelt limpio and linpio.^[2][3]
• 14th century – the spelling limpo appears, beside limpho and linpo.^[2][3]
• c. 1430 – the Horto do Esposo uses limpo.^[19]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary glosses it as tersus, mundus.^[12]
• 1572 – first record of the learned doublet límpido.^[3]
• 1716 – Bluteau records pôr em limpo and tirar a sua a limpo.^[13]
• 1755 – Folqman records limpo de sangue.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. clean: free of dirt, stains or impurity.^[2][5][1]
2. Unmixed, free of foreign matter; pure.^[2][5]
3. Of land: weeded, cleared (mondado).^[2][17]
4. Clear, cloudless, límpido (of the sky, a sound).^[2][20]
5. Neat and simple in appearance; tidy, of clean habits.^[2][17]
6. (figurative) Blameless, honest: consciência limpa.^[2][5]
7. (slang) Not carrying weapons or drugs, not drunk or drugged; clean of drugs.^[2][1]
8. (figurative) Done with care and correctness; polished (of work, handwriting, style).^[2][5]
9. (informal) penniless.^[15][16][21]

Noun

1. A piece of ground where nothing grows.^[17][18]

Adverb

1. (slang) Properly, by the rules, without tricks.^[17]

Word family

• limpar
• limpeza
• limpamente
• alimpar

Related words

• límpido
• Latin limpidus
• Spanish limpio
• Galician limpo

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include passar a limpo “to make a fair copy”, tirar a limpo “to get to the bottom of something” and pôr em pratos limpos “to clear the matter up”.^[20][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. limpo
3. ^ a b c d e f g Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. limpo
4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. limpo
5. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. limpo
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. limpidus
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 658
8. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. limpio
9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 299
12. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. limpo
13. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. limpo
14. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. limpo
15. ^ a b Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. limpo
16. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5697
17. ^ 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. limpo
18. ^ a b Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. limpo
19. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. limpo
20. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. limpo
21. ^ 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. limpo