local

Forms

local m or f (plural locais)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin locālis (“of a place”), taken as a learned word.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin adjective is formed from locus (“place”) with -ālis.^[2][1]

The same Latin adjective, through Old Galician-Portuguese logar, is the inherited doublet lugar “place”.^[1][5][6] It is also the source of Spanish lugar and of Old Spanish logar, recorded from 933 as locar.^[7][8] Italian locale is the learned Italian word.^[1]

The Latin noun had an old form stlocus.^[9][10] Wiktionary connects it, with doubt, to Proto-Italic *stlokos and Proto-Indo-European *stel- (“to put, place”), but de Vaan doubts this, because the suffix would have no parallel, and leaves the origin open.^[1][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the noun to 1446 and the adjective to 1601.^[2][3] Cunha dates the word to the 15th century.^[2][3] Morais (1813) quotes direito local “municipal law” from a 15th-century law code.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Feijó (1734) explains the word as a term of philosophy, “what happens in a place”.^[12] Morais (1813) has only the adjective, “belonging to a place or space”, in movimento local “motion from place to place”, jubileu local and direito local.^[11] Vieira (1871–1874) adds memória local and the painters' cor local.^[13]

The medical sense, confined to one part of the body, is in the original Caldas Aulete.^[14] The feminine noun a local, a news item about the town where a newspaper is published, is in Aurélio's first edition, with a Brazilian extension to any news report.^[15] Computing gave it a sense in networks and programs.^[16][17] In southern Brazil it is also the ground where cattle fairs and auctions are held.^[18]

Timeline

• 1446 – first record of the noun.^[2]
• 1601 – first record of the adjective.^[2]
• 1734 – Feijó records it as a term of philosophy.^[12]
• 1813 – Morais records movimento local and direito local.^[11]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira records memória local and cor local.^[13]
• 1975 – Aurélio's first edition records the feminine noun “local news item”.^[15]

Meanings

Adjective

1. local; relating or belonging to a particular place, or to the place where one lives: a imprensa local.^[2][16][1]
2. Particular to a place or region; responsible for a town or region rather than the whole country: as eleições locais.^[2][19]
3. (medicine) Confined to one part of the body: anestesia local.^[2][17]
4. (computing) Of a variable, used only in one part of a program; of a system, with restricted access.^[17][16]

Noun

1. A place, site; an area, building or spot, especially one where something happens or that serves a purpose: O local do acidente foi isolado.^[2][20][1]
2. premises; a house or shop.^[19][1]
3. (journalism, feminine) A news item about the town or area where the newspaper is published.^[2][20][15]
4. (radio, television, feminine) A broadcast limited to the local station.^[2]

Word family

• localmente
• localidade
• localizar
• localização

Related words

• lugar
• Latin locus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. local
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. local
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. local
5. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. lugar
6. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. lugar
7. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. lugar
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. localis
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. locus
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 233
12. ^ a b 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. local
13. ^ 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, 1331
14. ^ 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. local
15. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda (1975), Novo dicionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, p. 872
16. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. local
17. ^ a b c 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. local
18. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. local
19. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. local
20. ^ 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. local