obediente

Forms

obediente m or f (plural obedientes)^[1] Medieval texts write obediente, obedeente, hobediente, obediete, obedijte and, in the 15th century, obidiemte.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin oboediēns (“obedient”), the present participle of oboediō (“to obey”).^[2][4][5][6] Nascentes calls it a learned word.^[5] The same Latin word gives Spanish obediente.^[7]

The Latin verb is formed from ob- and audiō (“to hear”).^[8][9] Wiktionary reports the theory that its use in the law courts favoured an archaic spelling with ⟨oe⟩ where ⟨ū⟩ would be expected.^[10] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *awizdje/o- “to hear” and explains it as a compound of Proto-Indo-European *h₂eu-is (“clearly”) and a form of the root *dʰeh₁- (“to render”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria say of a fire that it was obedient to the Virgin (assi lle foi o fog' obediente), and wonder that the angels should be obedient (seeren obedientes) to the Mother of their lord.^[3] A charter of 1283 asks for a uasalo boo et obediente “a good and obedient vassal”, and one of 1284 has uassalos seruentes et obedientes.^[3] The sense, from the start, is that of a subject, a vassal or a monk who does what he is bidden.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The Rule of St Benedict in Portuguese uses the word for monks who obey or fail to obey (obedijnte).^[3] Bluteau in 1712 adds that it is said of natural or artificial things that easily produce the desired effect, as of ash wood that the craftsman shapes without effort.^[11] Morais in 1789 quotes o lenho ao leme obediente, the ship obedient to the helm, and records an astrological sense: an obediente sign is one that declines to the south as far as the imperante does to the north.^[12]

Caldas Aulete gives the sense “yielding to physical force, pliable” and the old formula seu humilde e obediente criado, used to close letters.^[13] Today the word also means “excessively docile, submissive”.^[2][14]

Timeline

• 13th century – obediente and obedeente in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[2][3]
• 1283 – uasalo boo et obediente in a charter.^[3]
• 1375 – the form vbidientes.^[3]
• c. 1430 – obediente in the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437).^[15]
• 1542 – obidiemte in a private letter.^[16]
• 1712 – Bluteau extends the word to things that yield easily.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais records the astrological signo obediente.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That obeys (obedecer); obedient, dutiful: um cão obediente.^[2][14][17]
2. Too docile (dócil); submissive, humble.^[2][14][18]
3. That yields easily to a force; pliable, easy to work.^[13][6][19]
4. Dependent on a person or an institution, especially a religious one, and subject to its rules.^[6]

Noun

1. A person who obeys or submits to orders.^[2][6]

Word family

• obedientemente

Related words

• obedecer
• obediência
• desobediente
• Latin oboediēns

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. obediente
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. obediente
4. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. obediente
5. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. obediente
6. ^ 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. obediente
7. ^ 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. obediente
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. oboediō
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. audiō
10. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. oboedio
11. ^ 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. obediente
12. ^ 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, 124
13. ^ a b 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. obediente
14. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. obediente
15. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. obediente
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. obediente
17. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. obediente
18. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. obediente
19. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6592