opinião

Forms

opinião f (plural opiniões)^[1] Medieval texts write openiã, openiam and the plurals openyões and opiniões in the 14th century, and oppenyom, opinioões and oupenjãos in the 15th.^[2][3] A private letter of 1541 spells it opiniam.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin opīniō (“opinion, belief, supposition”), written Old Galician-Portuguese opynion in the oldest texts.^[1][2][3] Nascentes calls it semi-learned.^[5]

The Latin noun is formed from opīnor (“to suppose, conjecture, deem”) with the suffix -iō.^[1][6] The origin of the verb is unclear: de Vaan reports Steinbauer's proposal of a compound meaning “to try to achieve”, notes Schrijver's view that the traditional link with optō (“to choose”) is weak in meaning, and leaves it without a PIE etymology.^[7]

The same Latin word gave Galician opinión, Spanish opinión, Catalan opinió, French opinion, Italian opinione and Romanian opinie.^[1] The Spanish word is a learned borrowing recorded from about 1250.^[8][9] The Portuguese verb opinar is a separate, later borrowing of the Latin verb, recorded only from 1688.^[10][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the noun to the 14th century, from Cunha's medieval index.^[2][3] Cunha's record is the plural openyões.^[2][3] The sources quote no context for these records.^[2] Houaiss keeps an obsolete sense “undertaking, purpose”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa's dictionary of 1611 already separates two senses, “fame, esteem” and “judgement, view”, each with Latin examples from Cicero.^[11] Morais (1813) adds the vote one gives and good or bad reputation, as in homem de opinião “a man of good name”.^[12] Vieira defines it as the view of someone who speaks on a question under deliberation.^[13]

Modern Portuguese uses it for any personal view, a political or religious position, an unproven assumption and the shared view of a community, as in opinião pública “public opinion”.^[2][14] Philosophy uses it for unexamined common belief as opposed to knowledge.^[2] Informally it can mean stubbornness or vanity, and regional surveys record “stubbornness” in Brazil, “presumption” in Portugal and “goodwill” in the Azores.^[2][15]

Timeline

• 14th century – first records, including the plural openyões.^[2][3]
• 15th century – spellings oppenyom and opinioões.^[2]
• 1541 – opiniam in a private letter.^[4]
• 1611 – Barbosa gives the senses “fame, esteem” and “judgement”.^[11]
• 1688 – first record of the verb opinar.^[10]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses it with Latin opinio and opinatio.^[16]
• 1813 – Morais records homem de opinião.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A way of thinking or judging; the view one holds on a question; opinion: Ela mudou de opinião depois da reunião.^[2][17][1]
2. A judgement given after reflection or deliberation; a vote.^[2][18]
3. A position held in a particular field, such as politics or religion; a doctrine.^[2][17]
4. An idea that has not been checked; an unfounded presumption.^[2][14]
5. The esteem in which someone or something is held; reputation.^[2][18]
6. The shared view of a group or community on a subject;^[2][19] opinião pública “public opinion”.^[2][19]
7. (philosophy) Common belief accepted without examination, as opposed to knowledge.^[2]
8. (informal) stubbornness, obstinacy; also an excessive good opinion of oneself, vanity.^[2][15]

Word family

• opinioso

Related words

• opinar
• opinável
• Latin opīniō
• Spanish opinión

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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. opinião
3. ^ a b c d e f Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. opinar
4. ^ a b 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. opinião
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. opinião
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. opīniō
7. ^ 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. opīnor
8. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 287
9. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. opinión
10. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. opinar
11. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. opinião
12. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 367
13. ^ 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, 558
14. ^ a b 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. opinião
15. ^ a b 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. opinião
16. ^ 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. opinião
17. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. opinião
18. ^ a b 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. opinião
19. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. opinião