pórtico

Forms

pórtico m (plural pórticos)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin porticus (“colonnade, covered walk, porch”), a learned word.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin word is feminine;^[4][5] Nascentes explains the masculine gender of the Portuguese word from its ending.^[4][5] The Latin noun is derived from porta (“gate”); it was expected to be *portica, and Wiktionary suggests the fourth-declension ending came from portus and domus, and perhaps from Ancient Greek στοά (stoá).^[1][6]

The Latin word was inherited in French porche and Occitan porge, and Occitan passed it to Catalan porxo and Spanish porche; Italian portico continues it too.^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is João de Barros's Décadas of 1552.^[2] Morais quotes the passage from the first Década, where a building is “not a portico of human pomp, as the Romans had”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word names a covered entrance or a gallery on columns before a building, and by extension its main door.^[2] Morais defines it as the doorway of a noble building, sometimes with a porch, and also as a monumental arch.^[8] After the Stoa of Athens, where Zeno taught, o pórtico names the Stoic school;^[2][8] Houaiss dates this sense to 1720.^[2][8] Figuratively it is the entrance to something great or difficult, and in gymnastics a crossbar on uprights from which apparatus hangs.^[2] Porto Editora also records it for a gantry over a road that registers the passing vehicles for electronic tolls.^[9]

Timeline

• 1552 – first record, in João de Barros's Décadas.^[2]
• 1720 – the sense “the Stoic school”.^[2]
• 1734 – Feijó marks the stress on the antepenult and glosses it as an entrance porch.^[10]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as the doorway of a noble building.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (architecture) A covered space at the entrance of a building, its roof or vault resting on columns; a portico.^[2][12][1]
2. (architecture) A gallery with a colonnade or arcada, usually in front of a building.^[2][13]
3. The main door of a building, a monumental portal.^[2][14]
4. (figurative) The threshold or approach to something great or difficult.^[2][15]
5. (gymnastics) A horizontal beam on uprights from which apparatus is hung.^[2][14]
6. (astronautics) A gantry with platforms at several levels, used to erect rockets.^[13][15]
7. A gantry over a road that registers passing vehicles for electronic tolls (portagem).^[9]
8. (philosophy) The Stoic school, from the portico in Athens where Zeno taught.^[2][16]

Related words

• porta
• Latin porticus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. pórtico
3. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. pórtico
4. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. pórtico
5. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 411
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. porticus
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6675
8. ^ a b c d Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 475
9. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7361
10. ^ 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. pórtico
11. ^ 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, 221
12. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. pórtico
13. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. pórtico
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. pórtico
15. ^ 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. pórtico
16. ^ 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. pórtico