outro

Forms

outro (feminine outra, masculine plural outros, feminine plural outras)^[1] Houaiss records the medieval spellings outros, outre and outri in the 13th century, houtro and octra in the 14th, and otra, outrro and ouutro in the 15th.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin alter (“the other of two; second”), written Old Galician-Portuguese outro in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] Houaiss and Aurélio derive it from the accusative form, and Nascentes notes that the word for “the other of two” took the place of the Latin general word alius (“other”).^[2][5][4]

The same Latin word is Galician outro, Spanish otro, Catalan altre, French autre, Italian altro and Romanian alt.^[6][1] Corominas observes that Spanish, and to a large degree Portuguese, differ from the other Romance languages in not combining the word with the indefinite article um.^[7]

The Latin word goes back to *aliteros (“the other of two”).^[1] De Vaan reconstructs *h₂el-tero- (“the other of two”), built on the same root as *h₂el-io- (“another”), the source of the Latin word for “other” and of ἄλλος (állos) and 𐌰𐌻𐌾𐌹𐍃 (aljis).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the pronoun to the 13th century, from Cunha's slips of medieval Portuguese.^[2] The lyric of that century already uses it as today: the Cancioneiro da Ajuda has outra molher “another woman”, and the Crónica Troiana has sen outro deteemento “without any other delay”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The cantigas already have the fixed phrases outro tal “another such” and outrossi or outro si “likewise”, the source of modern outrossim.^[9][10] Cunha dates outrem “someone else” and outrossim to the 13th century and outrora “formerly” to the 16th.^[3]

Morais (1789) defines the word as “not the same, not identical; different, changed”, and quotes a virtude não he outra coisa que huma mediania entre dois extremos “virtue is nothing other than a mean between two extremes”.^[11] Houaiss and the original Caldas Aulete add the sense “better, superior”, as in a thing that is outra coisa “something else, much better”.^[2][12] In philosophy and the social sciences o outro is the other, as opposed to the self.^[13][14]

The Spanish otrora “formerly”, used in Latin America and recorded from 1913, is taken from Portuguese outrora.^[15]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records of the pronoun, and of outrem and outrossim.^[2][3]
• 14th century – the spelling houtro.^[2]
• 1350 – the Trasladação de S. Nicolau is the first text of the CTA corpus with the word.^[16]
• 16th century – first record of outrora.^[3]
• 1712 – Bluteau gives alius and alter as its Latin equivalents and discusses when each is used.^[17]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as an adjective, “not the same, not identical”.^[11]

Meanings

Pronoun and determiner

1. other, different: not the person or thing already mentioned or known: Prefiro outra cor.^[2][18][1]
2. The second of two; the remaining one or ones of a group: Um saiu cedo, o outro ficou.^[2][12]
3. another, one more, a new one: Quer outro café?^[2][18][1]
4. Next, following: no outro dia.^[2][19]
5. Like, similar, a second: Não há outro igual a ele.^[2][18]
6. Better, superior: Depois das férias ficou outro.^[2][19]
7. (in the plural) Other people: Não ligues ao que os outros dizem.^[2][18]
8. (philosophy, religion) o outro: one's neighbour, the other as opposed to the self.^[13]

Word family

• outrem
• outrossim
• outrora

Related words

• alteração
• alterar
• Latin alter
• Galician outro
• Spanish otro

Usage notes

Fixed expressions include outro qualquer “anyone at all”, outro tanto “as much again, the same”, outro que tal “another just like it” and por outra “in other words”.^[2][18] The phrase o outro eu is a second self, an alter ego.^[2]

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 i j k l m n o p Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. outro
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. outro
4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. outro
5. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. outro
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. alter
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 323
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ 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. outro
10. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. outro
11. ^ 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, 143
12. ^ 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. outro
13. ^ 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. outro
14. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org
15. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. otro
16. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. outro
17. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. outro
18. ^ a b c d e Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6783
19. ^ 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. outro