liso

Forms

liso (feminine lisa, masculine plural lisos, feminine plural lisas, diminutive lisinho)^[1] The spelling lizo was used beside liso from the 18th century: Bluteau, Feijó and Morais head the word liso, ou lizo.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

According to Houaiss it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *lisius, a word of obscure origin, perhaps an expressive creation, which is shared by the languages of Iberia, southern France, the Alps and Italy.^[5] Corominas sets up the same Romance base and thinks it was probably suggested by the sound of something sliding over a smooth surface.^[6][7] Cunha, Nascentes and Aurélio call it of obscure origin.^[8][9][10]

Wiktionary and the DLP derive it from Ancient Greek λισσός (lissós, “smooth”).^[1][11] Nascentes, in his larger dictionary of 1955, rejects the Greek word, which he says occurs only in Homer and does not fit phonetically, and prefers the Germanic origin given in Meyer-Lübke's REW, comparing German leise (“quiet, soft”).^[12][13] Silva Bastos took it from Old High German lise.^[12][13] Homer uses the Greek adjective of a smooth rock.^[14]

The Romance words are Galician liso, Spanish liso, Catalan llis, Occitan lis, French lisse and Italian liscio.^[1] In Spanish it is recorded from 1335, in Juan Ruiz, with a voiced /z/ in the old language.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha's addenda date the first record to the 15th century, in the sense “having a flat, even surface, without roughness”.^[5][8] A private letter of 1544 has the spelling lyso.^[15]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau lists the senses “made smooth”, “not curly” (of hair), “without roughness to the touch” and, figuratively, “sincere, not dissembling”.^[2][16] Folqman (1755) has não ser liso “not to deal sincerely”.^[2][16] Morais (1789) adds “without embroidery, pleats or ornaments” of clothes and “plain” of a speech.^[4]

Brazilian Portuguese made it slang for “penniless”, and the north-east has the phrase liso, leso e louco “utterly broke”.^[5][10][17] Regional Brazilian senses describe cattle: in Pará a heifer that has not yet calved, in Ceará a fine red coat, in Paraíba a light colour without spots; in Rio Grande do Sul a liso is a tall glass for spirits.^[5][18] In Alagoas the Lisos were the opposition party of the revolt of 1844.^[5][19] In Portugal água lisa is still mineral water.^[5]

Timeline

• 1400s – first records.^[5][8]
• 1544 – lyso in a private letter.^[15]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau gives “not curly” and “sincere”, under liso, ou lizo.^[2]
• 1716 – the spelling lizo.^[5]
• 1789 – Morais adds “without ornaments” for clothes.^[4]
• 1800s – lisura, Cunha's date for the noun.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having an even, flat surface without bumps.^[5][10][1]
2. smooth to the touch, without roughness; polished: uma mesa lisa.^[5][10]
3. Of hair: straight, not wavy or curly.^[5][10][1]
4. Without pleats, ornaments or embroidery: um vestido liso.^[5][10]
5. Of cloth: plain, of a single colour, not printed.^[5][10][1]
6. Of style: simple, unaffected.^[5]
7. (figurative) Honest, sincere (sincero), frank.^[5][10][1]
8. (Brazil, informal) Without any money; broke: Paguei a renda e fiquei liso.^[5][10][1]
9. (Brazil, dated) Of a cigarette: without a filter.^[5][10]
10. (Portugal, informal) Of mineral water: still, not sparkling.^[5]

Noun

1. The smooth surface or part of something.^[5][11]
2. (Rio Grande do Sul) A tall, thick glass for spirits or beer.^[18][5]

Adverb

1. Honestly, fairly: jogar liso.^[5][11]

Word family

• alisar
• lisura

Related words

• Galician liso

Usage notes

In Portugal the regional dialects also use liso of a clear, bright day, and in Brazil of a calm sea.^[20]

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 Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. liso
3. ^ Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. liso
4. ^ a b c 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, 8
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. liso
6. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 666
7. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. liso
8. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. liso
9. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. liso
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. liso
11. ^ a b c 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. liso
12. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 301
13. ^ a b Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. liso
14. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
15. ^ a b 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. liso
16. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. liso
17. ^ Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. liso
18. ^ a b Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. 2
19. ^ 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. liso
20. ^ 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, p. s.v. liso