moral

Forms

moral m or f (plural morais)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin mōrālis (“relating to customs or conduct, moral”).^[2][3][1] Houaiss sees a probable influence of French morale on the philosophical term, and Cunha derives the feminine noun “body of rules of conduct” from the French word.^[2][3] The Latin adjective is formed from mōs (“custom, manner”) with the suffix -ālis.^[4][1] Cicero coined it to render Ancient Greek ἠθικός (ēthikós, “ethical”).^[4][1]

The same Latin word was borrowed as Spanish moral, recorded from about 1330, French moral, recorded from 1212, and Italian morale.^[5][6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the adjective to the 14th century, from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese, and Cunha's addenda also give a 14th-century record.^[2][3] The Crónica Geral de Espanha of 1344 speaks of the livro dos Moraaes, the Moralia of Gregory the Great.^[7] The Horto do Esposo, copied 1390–1437, has the adjective.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712–1728) defines moral as what concerns customs and the rule of human life, and notes that moral theology was popularly called o moral; he also names the Moraes of Saint Gregory.^[9] Morais (1789) enters the feminine noun, the science that regulates conduct according to rational or revealed ethics.^[10] Cunha dates the sense “lesson drawn from a story or a fact” to the 18th century and the feminine noun “body of rules of conduct” to 1813.^[3]

The masculine noun, the moral faculties as opposed to the physical, and a person's or group's state of mind, appears in the original Caldas Aulete; the DLP defines it as a temporary disposition to face difficulties, English morale.^[11][12] In informal Brazilian Portuguese moral (feminine) also means standing or authority over others.^[2][1]

Timeline

• 14th century – first records of the adjective.^[2][3]
• 1344 – the Crónica Geral de Espanha mentions the livro dos Moraaes.^[7]
• c. 1430 – the adjective in the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437).^[8]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau notes o moral for moral theology.^[9]
• 1789 – Morais enters the feminine noun.^[10]
• 18th century – the sense “lesson of a story”.^[3]
• 1813 – the feminine noun “body of rules of conduct”.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to morality, to the rules of conduct accepted in a society: um dever moral.^[2][12]
2. Conforming to those rules; upright, honest, decent.^[2][13][14]
3. Relating to the mind or spirit, as opposed to the physical or material: apoio moral.^[13][12]
4. Edifying, teaching a lesson: um conto moral.^[2]

Noun

1. (feminine) Morality: the body of values and rules of conduct of a person, group or society.^[2][12]
2. (feminine, philosophy) ethics as a discipline; a treatise on it.^[2][12]
3. (feminine) The moral of a story or event, especially in moral da história.^[13][12]
4. (feminine, Brazil, informal) Standing or authority to influence or judge others.^[2][1]
5. (masculine) The mental and moral faculties; the mind as opposed to the body.^[12][15]
6. (masculine) morale, spirit, confidence: A vitória levantou o moral da equipa.^[2][12][1]

Word family

• amoral
• desmoralização
• desmoralizado
• desmoralizar
• imoral
• imoralidade
• moralidade
• moralista
• moralização
• moralizador
• moralizante
• moralizar

Related words

• Latin mōs
• Spanish moral

Usage notes

The gender distinguishes the senses: a moral is morality or the moral of a story, o moral the state of mind or morale.^[12][11]

The Cantigas de Santa Maria have a separate noun moral “mulberry tree” (cabo dũus moraes “beside some mulberry trees”), a different word from this one.^[7]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. moral
3. ^ a b c d e f g Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. moral
4. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. mōrālis
5. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. moral
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. moral
7. ^ 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. moral
8. ^ a b Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. moral
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. moral
10. ^ 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, 96
11. ^ 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. moral
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. moral
13. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. moral
14. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. moral
15. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6308