matéria

Forms

matéria f (plural matérias)^[1] Houaiss records the medieval spellings materia and materya (14th century) and the plural matereas (15th century).^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin māteria (“timber; the stuff of which something is made”), a learned word; the inherited outcome of the same Latin noun is madeira “wood”.^[2][1][3][4]

The Latin noun is formed from māter (“mother”) with the suffix -ia.^[5][2] The DHLF explains it as a word of rustic speech for the trunk of a tree as the producer of shoots, whence timber and then any material.^[6] Its philosophical sense “matter” is a semantic loan from Ancient Greek ὕλη (húlē, “wood, matter”), introduced by Cicero.^[1]

The other Romance languages have both words as well: the learned Spanish materia beside the inherited Spanish madera, and Galician madeira.^[7][8] French matière is a borrowing from the Latin word too.^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the first records to the 14th century, in the spellings materia and materya, and dates the sense “subject, what is spoken or written about” to the same century.^[2] The Horto do Esposo, copied in the early 15th century, uses materia in several places.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Cardoso (1569) glosses the word with Latin materia and argumentum “subject”, and Barbosa (1611) has a school sense, the text a master gives his pupil to copy.^[10][11] Bluteau (1712) explains at length the philosophers' materia prima, the subject able to receive every form.^[12] Morais (1813) still records the old sense “timber”, from a translation of the Aeneid, beside “what something is made of” and “subject of a discourse or poem”.^[13]

The word also came to mean matter expelled by the body, and pus in a wound.^[2][4] Modern senses include a school subject and, in journalism, a news story.^[2][1] In southern Brazil matéria is a euphemism for pus.^[14]

Timeline

• 14th century – first records, spelt materia and materya, and first use for the subject of a speech or text.^[2]
• c. 1430 – the Horto do Esposo (copied 1391–1450) has materia.^[9]
• 15th century – the plural spelt matereas.^[2]
• 1567 – materia in a private letter.^[15]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses the word with Latin materia and argumentum.^[10]
• 1611 – Barbosa records the copy text a master sets his pupil.^[11]
• 1712 – Bluteau explains the philosophical materia prima.^[12]
• 1734 – Feijó heads the word with its accent, Matéria, “all that something is made of”.^[16]
• 1813 – Morais records the senses “timber”, “material” and “subject”.^[13]
• 1871 – Vieira derives the word from Latin.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. matter: any substance, solid, liquid or gaseous, that occupies space.^[2][4][1]
2. (physics) An aggregate of particles that have mass.^[2][18]
3. The material something is made of: uma caixa de matéria muito leve.^[2][4]
4. (philosophy) Matter as the formless principle opposed to forma.^[2][19]
5. Matter expelled by the body; pus.^[2][4][20]
6. A subject or topic, what is spoken or written about: Não percebo nada desta matéria.^[2][20]
7. (education) A school subject; the content of a course or an exam.^[2][1][20]
8. (journalism) A news story or article.^[2][1]
9. The material world, as opposed to the spirit; attachment to earthly things.^[2][21]

Related words

• material
• madeira
• Latin māteria
• Spanish materia

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 q Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. matéria
3. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. matéria
4. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. matéria
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. māteria
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. matière
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. materies
8. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. madera
9. ^ a b Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. materia
10. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. materia
11. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. materia
12. ^ 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. matéria
13. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 276
14. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. matéria
15. ^ 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. matéria
16. ^ 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. matéria
17. ^ Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 4, 163
18. ^ 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. matéria
19. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6006
20. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. matéria
21. ^ 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. matéria