memória

Forms

memória f (plural memórias)^[1] Medieval texts write memorya, memoria, memorja and memorea.^[2][3] A dialect form mimória is recorded in Portugal.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin memoria (“memory”), taken into the language by the learned route and written Old Galician-Portuguese memoria from the 13th century.^[2][5][6][1]

The Latin noun is formed on memor (“mindful, remembering”) with the suffix -ia.^[7][1] Cunha relates it to meminī (“to remember”).^[5] The OLD compares Ancient Greek μέριμνα (mérimna, “care, thought”).^[7] Wiktionary gives two explanations of the adjective: a reduplicated form of Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (“to think, remember”), or of *men- (“to think”).^[1]

The same Latin word is Galician memoria, Spanish memoria, Catalan memòria, French mémoire and Italian memoria.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest records are wills and charters: con toda mia memoria “with all my memory”, that is, of sound mind, in 1255, and cun todo meu siso et cun toda mia memoria in 1269.^[3] A charter of 1292 has a testator jazendo doente e sao na memoria “lying ill and sound in memory”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The Crónica Troiana uses it for remembrance (por memoria d' esta estoria) and a chronicle of 1344 writes por memorya dos que veherem depois “for the memory of those who come after”.^[3] Bluteau (1712) describes it as a faculty of the soul seated in the third ventricle of the brain.^[9] Morais (1813) adds de memória “by heart”, a monument (the equestrian statue of King José in Lisbon), and a ring given as a keepsake.^[10]

Houaiss marks the ring as old, but in Amazonas, Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Sul memória is still any finger ring, and in Rio Grande do Sul any fine gift.^[2][4] Houaiss and Porto Editora also record “dissertation”, “diplomatic note” and, in computing, “data storage”.^[2][11] Nheengatu borrowed the word as memuria.^[1]

Timeline

• 1255 – con toda mia memoria in a charter.^[3]
• 1269 – cun todo meu siso et cun toda mia memoria in a will.^[3]
• 1344 – por memorya dos que veherem depois in a chronicle.^[3]
• c. 1430 – the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437) uses memoria.^[12]
• 1712 – Bluteau's long article on the faculty of memory.^[9]
• 1813 – Morais records de memória, the monument and the keepsake ring.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. memory: the faculty of keeping and recalling past experiences and knowledge.^[2][13][1]
2. The reputation a person leaves behind: de boa memória.^[2][14]
3. A recollection, remembrance of something past.^[2][13]
4. A monument raised to commemorate a person or event.^[2][13]
5. (archaic) A ring given as a keepsake;^[2][4] (regional Brazil) any finger ring.^[2][4]
6. A written account of events;^[2][13][11] (in the plural) memoirs.^[2][13][11]
7. A dissertation on a scholarly subject, presented to an academy or congress.^[2][15]
8. A note made so as not to forget; a memorandum.^[2][11]
9. (diplomacy) A note presented by a diplomat to a government.^[2][14]
10. (computing) The device or unit that stores data and programs.^[2][11]
11. (Catholic liturgy) The commemoration of a saint in the daily office.^[2][14]

Word family

• desmemoriado

Related words

• memorável
• memorial
• memorando
• imemorável
• Latin memoria

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 p q Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. memória
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. memoria
4. ^ a b c d 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. memória
5. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. memória
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. memória
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5490
9. ^ 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. memória
10. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 286
11. ^ a b c d e Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6077
12. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. memoria
13. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. memória
14. ^ 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. memória
15. ^ 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. memória