nove

Forms

nove m or f^[1] Houaiss records the elided nov’ in the 13th century, nove in 1365 and noue in the 14th century.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin novem (“nine”), with the same form in the oldest texts.^[2][1][3] The same Latin word is Galician nove, Spanish nueve, Catalan nou, French neuf, Italian nove, Romanian nouă and Sardinian noe.^[4][5][1]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *newn̥ and Proto-Indo-European *h₁neun (“nine”), and lists cognates such as Ancient Greek ἐννέα (ennéa) and Gothic 𐌽𐌹𐌿𐌽 (niun).^[6][1] Wiktionary explains the Latin -m as taken from decem (“ten”), the older ending being kept in nōnus (“ninth”); nine is a cognate.^[1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria have dez e nov’ “nineteen” and nove dias for a novena: e teve y nove dias “and he spent nine days there”.^[7] The Crónica Troiana tells that Medea andou … nove noytes en aquel carro “travelled nine nights in that chariot”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712–1728) calls nine the second square number and describes how the digits of any multiple of nine add up to nine.^[8] As a noun the word names the figure 9, the playing card with nine pips and, in schools, a mark of nine.^[2][9][10] Priberam records as nove irmãs “the nine sisters”, the Muses.^[11]

The word passed into Macanese as nóvi and into Kadiwéu as noove.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – first record, in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[2][7]
• 1365 – the spelling nove.^[2]
• c. 1480–1510 – the Vida de Santo Agostinho (witness 1480–1510) has the word.^[12]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists nove vezes and novecentos.^[13]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau describes the arithmetic of nine.^[8]

Meanings

Numeral

1. nine, eight plus one: Comprou nove laranjas.^[2][9][1]
2. Ninth, of something in the ninth place in a series: o capítulo nove.^[2][9]

Noun

1. The number nine; the figure 9.^[2][9][10]
2. A playing card with nine pips: o nove de espadas.^[9][10][11]
3. A mark of nine in an examination.^[9][10]

Related words

• nono
• novena
• novembro
• noventa
• novecentos
• Latin novem
• Spanish nueve

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. nove
3. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. nove
4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. novem
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. novem
6. ^ 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
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. nove
8. ^ 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. nove
9. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. nove
10. ^ 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. nove
11. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. nove
12. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. nove
13. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. nove