obra

Forms

obra f (plural obras)^[1] Medieval texts also write hobras, oobra and obrras.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin opera (“effort, work”), written Old Galician-Portuguese obra in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] It is the popular doublet of the learned ópera.^[2][1]

The same Latin word is Galician obra, Spanish obra and Spanish huebra (“a day's work in the field”), Catalan obra, French œuvre and Italian opera.^[4][1][5]

The Latin feminine grew out of the neuter opus (“work”), whose plural was reinterpreted as a singular;^[1][6][7] Latin speakers distinguished ⟨opera⟩, effort freely given, from ⟨opus⟩, the work itself.^[1][6][7] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *h₃ep-os (“work”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's earliest date, 1188, comes from Machado's records.^[2] In the Cantigas de Santa Maria the word means a deed (fez obras noit' e dia “did deeds night and day”), work on the Sabbath, and a painting (hũa obra mui fremosa / pintava da Santa Virgen).^[8][3]

Semantic evolution

In the medieval chronicles obra is also building work: the Crónica Troiana speaks of the workers and masters of the building of a tomb, and the Crónica Geral of the fine work of the Torre do Ouro.^[8] Houaiss dates the sense “building under construction” to the 13th century and the sense “printed work, book” to the 15th.^[2] Religious language gave obras de misericórdia, and the total output of an artist or writer is a obra.^[2][9] Viterbo notes the old obra de “about, roughly”, as in obra de doze legoas “about twelve leagues”.^[10] Morais in 1813 records the naval obras mortas and obras vivas, the upper and lower parts of a ship's hull.^[11] Popular senses are a trick or scheme and a bowel movement.^[12][2][13] In the north-east of Brazil a stanza of a sung contest is an obra.^[14]

Timeline

• 1188 – Houaiss's first date, from Machado's records.^[2]
• 13th century – obra in the Cantigas de Santa Maria; first date of obrar and obreiro.^[8][3]
• 14th century – first record in the CTA, in the Trasladação de São Nicolau.^[15]
• 15th century – first date of the sense “printed work”.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses Obra with Latin opus.^[16]
• 1734 – Feijó refers obra to its diminutive obrinha.^[17]
• 1813 – Morais records obras mortas and obras vivas.^[11]
• 1896 – first date of obra branca, fine joinery.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. What results from work or action; a work or product: A ponte é obra de engenheiros portugueses.^[2][9][1]
2. An object made by a craftsman or artist.^[2][9]
3. A deed; a moral act: obras de caridade.^[2][9]
4. A literary, scientific or artistic work; the whole output of an author or artist.^[2][9][1]
5. A building under construction; a building site;^[1] (in the plural) building or repair work: A casa está em obras.^[2][9][1]
6. (printing) A printed work, a book.^[2]
7. (informal) A hard task: Subir aquela encosta foi obra!^[13]
8. (popular) A trick or scheme; a bowel movement.^[2][13]
9. (Brazil) A person or thing without flaws; perfection.^[2]

Word family

• obra-prima
• obrinha
• obragem

Related words

• obrar
• obreiro
• ópera
• operário
• Latin opera
• Spanish obra

Usage notes

Obra de before a number means “about”: obra de vinte léguas “some twenty leagues”.^[2][13] Set phrases include obra de arte, obra de misericórdia and obra de fôlego, a work that took great effort.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. obra
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. obra
4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6070
5. ^ 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. huebra
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. opera
7. ^ 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
8. ^ 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. obra
9. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. obra
10. ^ Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 179
11. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 355
12. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. obra
13. ^ a b c d Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. obra
14. ^ Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. obra
15. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. obra
16. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. obra
17. ^ 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. obra