linguagem

Forms

linguagem f (plural linguagens)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote lenguage; the 14th century has linguagem, lenguagees, lingoagem, linguaiem, linguoajem and linguagen, the 15th linguegem and lynguagem.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Occitan lenguatge, written Old Galician-Portuguese lenguage in the oldest texts.^[1][3][4][5] Houaiss analyses it as from Portuguese língua + -agem under the influence of the Occitan word,^[2] and Nascentes calls it an adaptation of the Occitan noun influenced by the native word for “tongue”, which explains the ⟨i⟩ of the first syllable.^[6]

The Occitan word goes back to *linguāticum, formed from lingua (“tongue, speech”) with the suffix -āticum.^[1] The REW lists the Portuguese word with Italian linguaggio, Catalan llenguatge and Spanish lenguaje as borrowings of the Occitan form; French langage is the French word of the same formation.^[7] The Spanish word is recorded from 1220–1250.^[8] Nascentes adds that the modern senses came through French.^[6]

The Latin word is the old dingua, from *dn̥ɣwā and *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s (“tongue”), cognate with 𐍄𐌿𐌲𐌲𐍉 (tuggō) and tongue.^[1][9] De Vaan explains its ⟨l⟩ from lingō (“to lick”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's earliest form is the 13th-century plural lenguages.^[2] In the Cantigas de Santa Maria the word means “language, tongue” in a line about the many lenguages spoken by the pilgrims.^[10] The sense is that of a particular language spoken by a people, not yet the faculty of speech.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Old texts use the word mainly for a particular language or idiom.^[11][12] Pereira (1697) glosses it with Latin idioma, and Bluteau (1712–1728) defines it as the native language of a country.^[11][12] Bluteau also records dar em linguagem “to translate into the vernacular”, linguagem commum “a common saying”, and the schoolroom sense: aprender linguagens, to learn the conjugations of the verbs.^[12][13] Morais (1813) adds medico de linguagem, a physician who knew only Portuguese and no Latin, and procurador de linguagem, an attorney with no degree in law.^[14]

The later dictionaries put the general human faculty of speech first, then any system of signs (the language of music, of colours, of bees), the style of a person or group, and a technical vocabulary.^[2][4] The computing sense “programming language” is recent.^[15][1] Portuguese thus keeps the distinction between linguagem “language in general, way of speaking” and língua “a particular language”.^[5]

Timeline

• 13th century – the plural lenguages;^[2][10] lenguage in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[2][10]
• 14th century – linguagem, lingoagem and other spellings.^[2][3]
• c. 1430 – linguagem in the Horto do Esposo (witness 1390–1437).^[16]
• 1585 – a private letter writes linguajẽ.^[17]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses it with Latin idioma.^[11]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau records dar em linguagem and the schoolroom sense “verb conjugations”.^[12]
• 1813 – Morais records medico de linguagem and procurador de linguagem.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. The human faculty of expressing and communicating thoughts and feelings through a system of signs, spoken or written; language in general.^[2][5][1]
2. Any system of signs or symbols used to communicate, such as the language of dance, colours or gestures.^[2][4]
3. The natural means of communication of an animal species: a linguagem das abelhas.^[2][15]
4. A particular language, the idiom (idioma) of a people.^[5][15][1]
5. A person's or group's way of speaking or writing; style, wording; the vocabulary of a science or profession, jargon.^[4][15][1]
6. (computing) A set of symbols and rules for writing programs: linguagem de programação.^[15][1]

Word family

• linguajar
• linguageiro

Related words

• língua
• Old Occitan lenguatge
• Spanish lenguaje
• French langage

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. linguagem
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. língua
4. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. linguagem
5. ^ a b c d 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. linguagem
6. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. linguagem
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5067
8. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. lengua
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, p. s.v. lingua
10. ^ a b c d 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. lenguage
11. ^ a b c Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. linguagem
12. ^ a b c d Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. linguagem
13. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. linguagem
14. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 227
15. ^ a b c d e Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5703
16. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. linguagem
17. ^ CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. linguagem