loucura

Forms

loucura f (plural loucuras)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Portuguese louco (“mad”) + -ura, already as Old Galician-Portuguese loucura in the 13th century.^[2][3][1][4] The same formation is Galician loucura, and the parallel derivative is Spanish locura.^[5]

The adjective is of obscure origin according to Houaiss and Cunha.^[6][3] Wiktionary suggests that it may come from Andalusian Arabic لَوَق (lawaq, “stupidity”), from لاق (lāq, “to soften”).^[1] Corriente, Pereira and Vicente trace the Ibero-Romance adjective to a Classical Arabic adjective meaning “stupid”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's chronology gives the Cantigas de Santa Maria as the first records: cantiga 40 speaks “of the very great folly that he did” (da mui gran loucura / que fez), and cantiga 125 has leixa esta loucura “leave this madness”.^[7] The sense there is “folly, senseless act” as much as “madness”.^[7] The Crónica Troiana has tu feziste gran loucura “you committed a great folly” in going down to such a place.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In the cantigas d'escarnho andar a loucuras meant “to go about doing foolish things”.^[7] Houaiss dates to the 15th century the sense of a feeling that escapes the control of reason, whence a passion for someone or something.^[2] The spelling louqura is recorded in the 15th century, and the CTA's first prose record is the Vida do Infante Josafat of 1431–1446.^[2][8] Pereira in 1697 glosses the word with Latin dementia and insania, and Bluteau's book of synonyms calls it a sickness of the soul that is never so great as to lack lucid intervals.^[9][10]

Modern Portuguese uses it also for whatever goes beyond convention or the usual, for something extraordinary, and for an exorbitant sum of money.^[2][4] In Mozambique apanhar loucura means “to go mad”, and in Pará it is a name of the crape myrtle.^[2]

Timeline

• 1200s – loucura in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[7][3]
• 1400s – the sense “feeling beyond the control of reason”, and the spelling louqura.^[2]
• 1431–1446 – loucura in the Vida do Infante Josafat.^[8]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses the word as dementia and insania.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. madness, insanity; a mental disorder that takes a person away from normal ways of thinking and acting.^[2][11][1]
2. An act or speech typical of a madman; a senseless or extravagant act.^[2][11][1]
3. Lack of judgement; recklessness, imprudence: Era loucura atravessar o rio com aquela cheia.^[2][11]
4. A feeling beyond the control of reason; a passion for someone or something: Ela tem loucura por cães.^[2][4]
5. Anything that goes beyond the conventional or the usual.^[2][4]
6. Wild, extravagant joy.^[2]
7. Something extraordinary or marvellous.^[2]
8. An exorbitant sum of money.^[2]
9. (Pará) The crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica).^[2]

Related words

• louco
• enlouquecer
• louquice
• Galician loucura
• Spanish locura

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. loucura
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. louco
4. ^ 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. loucura
5. ^ a b Corriente, Federico; Pereira, Christophe; Vicente, Ángeles (2019), Dictionnaire des emprunts ibéro-romans: emprunts à l'arabe et aux langues du monde islamique (Encyclopédie linguistique d'Al-Andalus 3), Berlin: De Gruyter, p. s.v. loco
6. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. louco
7. ^ a b c d e 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. loucura
8. ^ a b Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. loucura
9. ^ a b 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. loucura
10. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. loucura
11. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. loucura