menos

Forms

menos (invariable).^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote mẽos and meos as well as menos.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin minus (“less”), the neuter of minor (“smaller, less”).^[2][1][4][5] The oldest texts also write Old Galician-Portuguese mẽos, with or without the tilde, lacking the /n/;^[5][1] Nascentes takes the form with /n/ to be refashioned on the old form, and Wiktionary says it displaced that form.^[5][1][3] The Crónica Troiana already has the form with /n/ beside the one without it.^[6]

The same Latin word is Spanish menos, Catalan menys, French moins and Italian meno.^[7][8]

The Latin adjective serves as the comparative of parvus (“small”).^[1] It goes back to Proto-Italic *minōs (“less”).^[1][9] Wiktionary takes it further to Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“small, little”), and de Vaan reconstructs the comparative as *meih₁-is-, with minuō (“to lessen”) from the same root.^[1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria have guareceu en mẽos que un mes “he was healed in less than a month” and aquel que mẽos roubava, entr'eles era peor “the one who robbed less was the worse among them”.^[10] A cantiga d'escarnho of Afonso X has o que [vos] en meos val “what is worth less to you”.^[3] Lorenzo's chronology places these 13th-century records before Machado's date for the word, which is in the 15th century.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Medieval texts already use the word in set phrases: a mẽos de “unless, except for”, a meos “at least”, and achar mẽos or veer mẽos “to miss (someone)”.^[10][3] Notarial books from Noia in Galicia repeat nẽ por máis nẽ por menos “neither for more nor for less” from 1390 on.^[6] Nunes noted that Fernão Lopes already wrote a menos de.^[3]

Barbosa in 1611 has por menos “for a lower price”, and Bluteau in 1712 calls it an adverb of diminution in quantity or quality.^[11][12] Modern Portuguese also uses it as a preposition, “except”, and as the name of the arithmetic sign of subtraction.^[2][13] In Brazil o menos is also the lowest price a seller will take.^[2] As the first part of a compound it marks inferiority, as in menosprezar.^[14]

Timeline

• 13th century – mẽos in the Cantigas de Santa Maria and meos in the cantigas d'escarnho.^[10][3] Houaiss's 13th-century records also have the form with /n/.^[10][3][2]
• 1390 – nẽ por máis nẽ por menos in a notarial book of Noia.^[6]
• c. 1430 – first in the CTA corpus, in the Horto do Esposo (witness 1390–1437).^[15]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders it by Latin minus.^[16]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists por menos “for less money”.^[11]
• 1712 – Bluteau defines it as an adverb of diminution.^[12]
• 1871 – Vieira enters it as an adjective “a smaller portion or quantity”.^[17]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. fewer, less; a smaller number or amount of: Hoje há menos trânsito.^[2][18][1]
2. With the definite article: the least, the smallest.^[2][18]

Adverb

1. Less, to a lower degree or with less intensity: Agora durmo menos.^[2][19][1]
2. Forms the comparative and superlative of inferiority: menos caro do que, o menos difícil.^[13][19]
3. Fewer than, under (a number): menos de vinte pessoas.^[2][19]
4. Rather, more truly (correcting a statement).^[2]
5. ao menos, pelo menos: at least;^[20] a menos que: unless.^[20]

Preposition

1. except, but: Vieram todos, menos o João.^[2][13][1]
2. (mathematics) minus: dez menos três.^[2][13][1]

Noun

1. The least thing, the minimum.^[2][14]
2. (Brazil) The lowest price.^[2]
3. The minus sign (−).^[2][13][1]

Word family

• menosprezar

Related words

• menor
• Latin minus
• Spanish menos

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. menos
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. meos
4. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. menos
5. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. menos
6. ^ a b c 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. menos
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5594
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. minus
9. ^ 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
10. ^ 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. mẽos
11. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. menos
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. menos
13. ^ a b c d e 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. menos
14. ^ a b 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. menos
15. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. menos
16. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. menos
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, 200
18. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. menos
19. ^ a b c 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. menos
20. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. menos