moda

Forms

moda f (plural modas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French mode (“fashion, custom”), a word of the 15th century in French.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The French noun is from Latin modus (“measure; manner”), whose general sense “measure” led to “limit, moderation, rhythm” and “manner of acting or doing”.^[2][6] Houaiss explains that it became feminine in French because of its ending ⟨-e⟩; the masculine was restored from the 15th century, and only the senses “custom, passing style”, in cooking, dress and music, stayed feminine, and these are the senses Portuguese took.^[2] Spanish moda and Italian moda are borrowed from French too.^[7][8] A. Coelho had derived the Portuguese word directly from Latin, against the French source that Meyer-Lübke and Figueiredo give.^[9]

The Latin noun goes back to *modos, and Wiktionary derives it from *med- (“to measure”).^[1] Portuguese modo is the same Latin word, taken directly, a learned form according to García de Diego.^[3][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A private letter of the Post Scriptum corpus, of 1706 at the latest, has moda.^[11] Houaiss dates the word to 1716, from Bluteau's dictionary, which defines it as the way of dressing, speaking or doing anything according to a newly introduced custom, and adds a long complaint about the endless change of dress.^[2][12] Cunha dates it to the 18th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau's moda is the fashion of dress and manners, and already the phrase à moda “in the fashion”.^[12] Morais (1789) adds the plural modas “songs played on the harpsichord or the viola”, the musical sense from which modinha, a kind of urban song first recorded before 1771, was formed.^[13][14] Caldas Aulete's dictionary records the general sense “the way each person does things”, as in à sua moda.^[15]

Later the word came to name the clothing industry and trade, the history of dress and fashion criticism, and in statistics the most frequent value in a distribution.^[2][16] In Brazil moda de viola is a narrative country song sung to the Brazilian viola, and the word means a song or folk tune in general.^[2][17] A Portuguese dialect survey also records it as “a way of speaking, an accent”.^[18]

Timeline

• c. 1700 – Spanish moda borrowed from French.^[8]
• 1706 – moda in a private letter (Post Scriptum).^[11]
• 1716 – Bluteau's dictionary enters moda.^[2][12]
• 1755 – Folqman glosses moda with Latin mos, modus and usus.^[19]
• before 1771 – first record of modinha.^[14]
• 1789 – Morais has modas “songs” beside the fashion of dress.^[13]
• 1858 – modista, from French modiste, enters Morais's 6th edition.^[20]
• 1873 – Vieira derives moda from the French word.^[21]

Meanings

Noun

1. fashion: the style of dress, behaviour or taste that prevails at a given time or among a given group: estar na moda, sair de moda.^[2][1][5]
2. The clothing industry and trade; the history and criticism of dress: uma revista de moda.^[2][22]
3. A craze, a passing fixation.^[2]
4. Manner, way: à moda antiga, à moda do Porto.^[1][15]
5. (music) A song, a ballad; a popular or salon song, the same as modinha;^[2][1] (Brazil) moda de viola, a narrative country song.^[2][1]
6. (statistics) The mode, the most frequent value in a distribution.^[2][1]
7. (in the plural) Articles of clothing: loja de modas.^[2][23]

Word family

• modinha
• modista

Related words

• modal
• modo
• French mode
• Latin modus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. moda
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. modo
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. moda
5. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. moda
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
9. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. s.v. moda
10. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
11. ^ a b 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. moda
12. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. moda
13. ^ 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, 88
14. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. modinha
15. ^ a b 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. moda
16. ^ 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. moda
17. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. moda
18. ^ 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. moda
19. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. moda
20. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. modista
21. ^ 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, 282
22. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6238
23. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. moda