número

Forms

número m (countable and uncountable, plural números)^[1] Houaiss records numero and numerro in 1391, and Lorenzo numoro in 1430.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin numerus (“number”), a learned word that replaced the old popular Old Galician-Portuguese nombro.^[4][5][2] García de Diego and the REW also treat the Portuguese word, like Spanish número, as learned, while Wiktionary takes it as inherited.^[6][7][1]

The popular outcome of the Latin word is Romanian număr, French nombre, Catalan nombre and Italian novero.^[7] French had the word from the early 12th century.^[8]

The Latin word goes back to *nomeso-.^[9] De Vaan connects it with *nem- (“to apportion”), the root of νέμω (némō, “to distribute”); the DHLF calls its origin unknown.^[9][8][1] The grammatical sense is a loan from ἀριθμός (arithmós).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the first record to 1391, from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese.^[2] Lorenzo's chronology cites conto e numero antijguo (perhaps 1421) and a çerto numero dos ditos “a certain number of the said men” (1433), where the word means a quantity of people or things.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau defines numero as a measurable multitude, a gathering of units, and so excludes one from the numbers.^[10] Morais in 1789 still gives it as the sum of two or more units, opposed to unity.^[11] Vieira includes the parts of a unit and the figures used to write numbers.^[12]

Later senses include the issue of a periodical, a lottery ticket, a category of people, the grammatical number, the rhythm of prose and verse, and an act in a show.^[2][13][1] In everyday use the word also means a telephone number and a shoe size.^[1]

Timeline

• 1391 – first records, spelt numero and numerro.^[2]
• 1430 – numoro;^[3] a çerto numero in 1433.^[3]
• 15th century – Cunha's date for the word.^[14]
• c. 1510 – numero in the Vida de Santo Agostinho.^[15]
• 1544 – the word in a private letter.^[16]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines numero as a gathering of units.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. (mathematics) A number, the abstract entity that expresses a quantity.^{[2][13][17][1]}
2. A quantity, amount: um grande número de pessoas.^[2][13]
3. A numeral, the figure or word that represents a quantity.^[13][1]
4. The number that identifies something in a series: a house, a telephone, a lottery ticket.^[2][1]
5. An issue of a newspaper or magazine.^[2][18][1]
6. A class, category: Ele não é do número dos que desistem.^[2][18]
7. (grammar) The category of singular and plural.^[2][18][1]
8. (literature) Rhythm, cadence (cadência) of prose or verse.^[2]
9. An act in a show, a piece of music or dance.^[2][1]
10. A shoe size.^[1]

Related words

• numeroso
• numerar
• numeral
• Latin numerus
• Spanish número

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. número
3. ^ a b c d 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. numero
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. número
5. ^ Huber, Joseph (1933), Altportugiesisches Elementarbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. § 294
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. numerus
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5994
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. nombre
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, p. s.v. numerus
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. numero
11. ^ 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, 122
12. ^ 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, 484
13. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. número
14. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. número
15. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. numero
16. ^ 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. número
17. ^ 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. número
18. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. número