milhão

Forms

milhão m (plural milhões)^[1] The 15th-century texts write mylhaão and the plural milhões or mylhooẽs.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian milione (“million”).^[2][4][3][1] Houaiss thinks it probably came through French million.^[2] Cunha calls it an adaptation of the Italian word, Vieira took it from French, and Aurélio names the medieval French form milion as the possible intermediary.^[3][5][4]

The Italian word is formed from mille (“thousand”) with the augmentative suffix -one, and is recorded before 1348.^[6] The French word was first millon in 1266, and is spelt with -ll- and -i- from 1359.^[7] Spanish millón is from the French or the Italian word.^[8] The Italian word continues Latin mīlle (“thousand”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first date is the 15th century, from the slips of the index of medieval Portuguese, with the forms milhões and mylhaão.^[2] Cunha dates mylhooẽs to the same century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Morais (1789) explains it as the same as conto, ten times a hundred thousand, and notes that one says hum milhão de cruzados but hum conto de reis.^[9] Vieira (1871–1874) repeats the rule that one never says um milhão de reis, though he finds milhão for conto in some classical books.^[5] The extended sense “a very great number” is in all the modern dictionaries.^[2][10][11]

Timeline

• 15th century – first records, milhões and mylhaão.^[2][3]
• 1622 – first record in the private letters of Post Scriptum.^[12]
• 1789 – Morais equates milhão with conto.^[9]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira derives it from French million.^[5]

Meanings

Numeral

1. A million, a thousand thousands (10⁶).^[2][10][1]

Noun

1. (by extension) A very large, indefinite number: Já te disse isto um milhão de vezes.^[2][4]
2. A large but indefinite sum of money.^[10]

Related words

• milionário
• mil
• milhar
• Italian milione

Usage notes

A separate noun milhão, formed from Portuguese milho + -ão, is a variety of maize with a very tall stalk and large grains, and Houaiss also uses it for the grass capim-pé-de-galinha.^[2][4][10] Morais (1813) already has it for maize.^[13]

A third milhão, a name of the milhafre (kite), is the same word as milhano, which the DLP takes from Latin miluus.^[2][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. milhão
3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. milhão
4. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. milhão
5. ^ a b c 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, 239
6. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli, p. s.v. milione
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. million
8. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. millón
9. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 82
10. ^ 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. milhão
11. ^ 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. milhão
12. ^ 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. milhão
13. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 299