morto

Forms

morto (feminine morta, masculine plural mortos, feminine plural mortas, comparable, comparative mais morto, superlative o mais morto or mortíssimo, diminutive mortinho, metaphonic)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin mortuus (“dead”), the past participle of morior (“to die”), written Old Galician-Portuguese morto in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] Nascentes, following Meyer-Lübke, explains the form from Vulgar Latin *mortus: the semivowel ⟨u⟩ of the Latin ending was lost before the vowel ⟨u⟩.^[4][5][1]

The word serves as the past participle of morrer and also of matar in the sense “killed”: Caldas Aulete calls it the irregular participle of both verbs.^[6] A Galician charter of 1228 already uses it both as an adjective and as the participle of the verb “to die”.^[7] Houaiss's date of 1255 is for the adjective.^[2]

The same Latin word is Galician morto, Spanish muerto, Catalan mort, French mort, Italian morto and Romanian mort.^[8][1] De Vaan derives the Latin participle from Proto-Italic *mortwo- (“dead”), beside *morto-, and compares Old Irish marb and Welsh marw (“dead”).^[9] Wiktionary sets it beside Proto-Indo-European *mr̥twós (“dead, mortal”), from the root *mer- (“to die”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Galician charter of 1228 has e se uiuo ou morto escapar “and whether he escape alive or dead”, and as a participle por aquel que for morto in baralla “for him who is killed in a brawl”.^[7] The Cantigas de Santa Maria have mais morto que vivo “more dead than alive” and dá aos mortos vida “gives life to the dead”, with the noun.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The Crónica Troiana uses the plural noun for the fallen of a battle, and in a satirical cantiga andar morto por means “to long for”, a sense still alive in estar morto por.^[7][2] Bluteau (1712–1728) gives both “deceased” and “one whose life was taken”.^[10] Morais (1789) calls it the past participle of morrer and records mão morta “mortmain”, said of brotherhoods and convents, which never die.^[11]

Figurative senses multiplied: “without life or movement”, “faded”, “exhausted”, “out of use” (a dead language), and fogo morto “a fire gone out”.^[2][12] Brazilian usage has nem morto “not on any account” and, in the north-east, morto e vivo “a ghost”.^[2]

Timeline

• 1228 – morto in a Galician charter, as adjective and participle.^[7]
• 1255 – Houaiss's first date for the adjective.^[2]
• 13th century – mortos “the dead” in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[7]
• c. 1350 – morto in the Trasladação de São Nicolau (witness 1301–1400).^[13]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau: “deceased” and “killed”.^[10]
• 1789 – Morais records mão morta.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. dead, no longer living: um pássaro morto.^[2][14][1]
2. Without life, movement or feeling; numb: Fiquei com o braço morto.^[2][12]
3. (of plants) Withered, dried up.^[12][15]
4. Lacking activity or people; lifeless: uma aldeia morta.^[2][1]
5. Faded, dull, without colour or expression: olhos mortos.^[2][12]
6. Put out, extinct: fogo morto.^[2][12]
7. (informal) exhausted, worn out.^[2][1]
8. No longer in use or valid;^[2][16] (of a language) no longer spoken.^[2][16]
9. (followed by por) Longing, very eager: Estava morta por chegar a casa.^[2][17]
10. Killed.^[17]

Noun

1. A dead person.^[2][18][1]
2. A corpse.^[18][1]
3. (card games) A set of cards put aside, taken by the first player to play all his cards.^[1]

Word family

• morto-vivo

Related words

• morrer
• mortal
• mortandade
• morte
• matar
• Latin mortuus
• Galician morto
• Spanish muerto

Usage notes

The plural mortos and the feminine morta have an open /ɔ/, the masculine singular a closed /o/.^[14][1] Nem morto means “on no account”: não faço isso nem morto.^[14][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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. morto
3. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. morte
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 344
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. morto
6. ^ 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. morto
7. ^ a b c d e f 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. morto
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5695
9. ^ 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 Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. morto
11. ^ 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, 98
12. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. morto
13. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. morto
14. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. morto
15. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. morto
16. ^ 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. morto
17. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6329
18. ^ a b 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. morto