negócio

Forms

negócio m (plural negócios)^[1] Houaiss records negocios in 1293, anegoçios in 1390, and negoceo, negoçyo, negossos and neguoçios in the 15th century.^[2] Wiktionary lists negoço as another form.^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin negōtium (“business, occupation, affair”), a learned word.^[1][2][3][4] Spanish negocio is likewise taken from Latin, in 1220–1250.^[5] Popular descendants of the Latin noun survive in Romanian negoț and Old Occitan neotz.^[6]

The Latin noun is formed from nec (“not”) and ōtium (“leisure”).^[7][1] De Vaan reports Benveniste's view that it was a compound from the start, meaning “non-leisure”, that is “obstacle”, perhaps a calque of Ancient Greek ἀσχολία (askholía, “lack of leisure; occupation”).^[8] Wiktionary notes that a calque would rather have given *in-ōtium.^[8][1] The base noun itself has no etymology.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Houaiss's earliest record, of 1293, is the plural negocios.^[2] Morais in 1813 defines the word as commerce and trade, and as any matter of life from which profit or loss may come and which one deals with;^[9] homem de negócio was a merchant, and figuratively someone who knows how to look after his own interest.^[9] Cunha dates the verb negociar and the nouns negociação and negociador to the 16th century, negociante to the 18th and negociata “shady deal” to 1881.^[3]

Brazilian Portuguese gave it the sense “a shop, a business”, and in the countryside of Rio Grande do Sul a general store where drink is also sold.^[2][10][11] The older Aulete already records the familiar Brazilian use for any thing whose name one does not know or does not want to say, and in slang it is a euphemism for the penis.^[12][1]

Timeline

• 1293 – first record, the plural negocios.^[2]
• 1390 – the form anegoçios.^[2]
• 1400s – negoceo, negoçyo, negossos, neguoçios.^[2]
• 1500s – first records of negociar, negociação and negociador.^[3]
• 1813 – Morais records homem de negócio “merchant”.^[9]
• 1881 – first record of negociata.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. trade, commerce: Vive do negócio da cortiça.^[2][13][14]
2. A deal, a business transaction: Fizeram um bom negócio com a venda da casa.^[12][13][15]
3. (chiefly Brazil) A business, a firm, a shop.^[2][12][1]
4. An affair, a matter to be settled: Ainda há um negócio pendente com o senhorio.^[2][16]
5. (in the plural) Business dealings, contracts and agreements between people, firms or countries.^[2]
6. (Brazil, informal) A thing whose name one does not know or remember, a thingamajig: Para que serve este negócio?^[2][12][1]
7. (Brazil, slang, euphemistic) The penis.^[1]

Word family

• negociar
• negociação
• negociador
• negociante
• negociata
• negociável
• negocista

Related words

• ócio
• Latin negōtium
• Spanish negocio

Usage notes

Negócio da China is a very profitable deal, and negócio de compadres one in which personal favour counts for more than profit.^[2][16][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. negócio
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. negócio
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. negócio
5. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. negocio
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5881
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. negōtium
8. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 339
10. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. negócio
11. ^ 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. negócio
12. ^ a b c d 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. negócio
13. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. negócio
14. ^ 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. negócio
15. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6468
16. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. negócio
17. ^ 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. negócio