natividade

Forms

natividade f^[2] The oldest texts write navidad and navidade;^[2][3] natividade and nativiidade appear in the 15th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin nātīvitās (“birth”), a semi-learned word written Old Galician-Portuguese navidade in the 13th century and with the Latin ⟨t⟩ restored from the 15th.^[2][3][1] Nascentes calls it semi-learned.^[4] The Latin noun is formed from nātīvus (“native, natural”) with the suffix -tās, and the adjective comes from nāscor (“to be born”).^[1][5] It is a post-classical word, found in the Digest and in Tertullian; in Christian Latin, followed by Domini (“of the Lord”), it named the birth of Christ and Christmas.^[6][7]

The same Latin word is Spanish natividad, Catalan nativitat, French nativité and Italian natività.^[1][8] Spanish also has the older navidad “Christmas”, like the medieval Portuguese form.^[9] In French the learned word displaced an inherited naïté.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria (cantiga 361) speak of a noite de Navidad, the night of the Nativity, when the Church holds a great feast.^[11] Houaiss dates the first record to the 13th century from Cunha's medieval index.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Nascentes notes that the word specialised to the birth of the Virgin, celebrated on 8 September.^[4] Bluteau (1712–1728) glosses it simply “birth” and quotes the institution of the feast of the Nativity of Our Lady, and Morais (1789) gives the phrase a Natividade de N. Senhora.^[12][13] Vieira (1871–1874) lists the time of birth, the birth of Christ, of the Virgin and of some saints, Christmas itself, the anno da natividade that counts the year from 25 December, a painting of the Nativity, and the astrological sense “the position of the heavens at someone's birth”.^[14] Houaiss and Aurélio add the medieval religious play on the birth of Christ.^[2][15]

From the feast it became a woman's name, and later a surname of religious origin.^[16] It is also the name of municipalities in the Brazilian states of Rio de Janeiro and Tocantins.^[1][17]

Timeline

• 13th century – Navidad in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[11][2]
• 15th century – first records of natividade and nativiidade.^[2][3]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau glosses natividade “birth”.^[12]
• 1734 – Feijó gives the spelling with the gloss “birth”.^[18]
• 1789 – Morais has a Natividade de N. Senhora.^[13]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira records the astrological sense and the painting of the Nativity.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. The day or time of someone's birth.^[19][20]
2. (religion) The birth of Jesus Cristo, of the Virgin Mary or of a saint, especially John the Baptist; usually capitalised.^[2][19][21]
3. (religion) The feast of the birth of Christ, Natal (Christmas), or the feast of the birth of the Virgin or of a saint.^[2][22]
4. (art) A painting, sculpture or other work showing the birth of Christ; a nativity.^[19][20]
5. (theatre, historical) In the Middle Ages, a religious play on the birth of Christ.^[2][15]
6. (astrology) The position of the stars at the moment of a birth; a horoscope.^[19][23]

Related words

• Natal
• nascimento
• nativo
• nascer
• Latin nātīvitās
• Spanish natividad

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. natividade
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. natividade
4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. natividade
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. nātīuitās
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. nativitas
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. natividad
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. nativité
11. ^ a b 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. navidade
12. ^ 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. natividade
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, 109
14. ^ a b 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, 395
15. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. natividade
16. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1952), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 2: Nomes próprios, Rio de Janeiro, p. 246
17. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org
18. ^ Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. natividade
19. ^ a b c d 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. natividade
20. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. natividade
21. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6438
22. ^ 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. natividade
23. ^ 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. natividade