omnipotente

Forms

omnipotente m or f (plural omnipotentes)^[1] In Brazil the standard spelling is onipotente, the headword of Houaiss, Aurélio and Michaelis;^[1][2][3][4] omnipotente is the spelling of Portugal.^[1][2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin omnipotēns (“almighty”), recorded from the 13th century.^[5][6][1][7] The Latin adjective is a compound of omnis (“all”) and potēns (“powerful”), the present participle of possum (“to be able”).^[8][1][9] The same Latin word is Italian onnipotente, French omnipotent and Friulian onipotent.^[1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria already call God Deus Padre omnipotente “God the Father almighty”.^[10] In Latin the epithet was given to Jupiter and other gods, and in Christian Latin to God.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau defines the word as said of God, who can do all that is possible, and adds that it is said ironically or in flattery of the great of the earth, who can do much.^[11] Morais in 1813 likewise gives a figurative sense, a person of great influence.^[12] As a noun with a capital, o Omnipotente is God.^[5][2][3]

Timeline

• 13th century – Deus Padre omnipotente in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[10][6]
• 1697 – Pereira's Thesouro translates it as Latin omnipotens.^[13]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau records the ironic use for the powerful.^[11]
• 1813 – Morais records the figurative sense.^[12]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira says it is properly said of God.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. omnipotent, all-powerful; todo-poderoso.^[5][7][2]
2. Having absolute or unlimited authority or power.^[5][7]

Noun

1. (with a capital) God, the Almighty.^[5][2][3]

Related words

• potente
• todo-poderoso
• Latin omnipotens

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. omnipotente
3. ^ a b c d Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6678
4. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. onipotente
5. ^ a b c d e Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. onipotente
6. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. onipotente
7. ^ a b c 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. omnipotente
8. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ 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. omnipotente
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. omnipotente
12. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 365
13. ^ Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. omnipotente
14. ^ 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, 549