paço

Forms

paço m (plural paços)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote paaço (13th century), pááços (1344) and paacoo (1391); paço is recorded from the 14th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin palātium (“palace”), written Old Galician-Portuguese paaço in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin word first named the Palatine hill of Rome, where the emperors lived, and came to mean “palace” in the poetry of the imperial age and in late prose.^[2][5] Houaiss notes the syncope in the Portuguese word: the Latin ⟨-l-⟩ is lost in the old form, whose two vowels later merged.^[2]

The learned palácio, recorded from the 14th century, is its doublet.^[6][1] Cunha observes that the popular word is now used, with a narrower meaning, only of a royal palace.^[3]

The same Latin word is Galician pazo, Catalan palau, Occitan palatz, French palais and Italian palazzo; the Spanish form palacio keeps the ⟨l⟩ and is a learned form.^[7][8][9] Wiktionary calls the origin of the hill's name uncertain.^[1] Livy linked it with Pallanteum, a city of Arcadia.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Cantigas de Santa Maria ũa dona enton entrou / per meogo do paaço “a lady then came in through the middle of the hall”.^[10] The Crónica Troiana speaks of moy boos paaços en que morasse “very good palaces to live in”, and the Crónica Geral uses the word for a palace, a residence and a hall.^[10]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century paço was also the office of a public notary, because notaries then wrote in the paços do concelho, the town hall.^[11] In 1390 a notarial book of Noia in Galicia allows a tenant to build a paaço of stone and timber at his own cost, a word its glossary defines as a more or less large, lordly house.^[10] Bluteau (1712–1728) explains that the singular means the court of a prince and the plural the building itself, and records the Paço dos Tabelliaens of Lisbon.^[12] Morais (1813) has homem de paço “courtier” and fazer paço e cortesia “to pay court”.^[13] An old figurative sense, a joking remark meant to avoid a quarrel, survives in fazer paço “to jest”.^[2][14]

In Portugal paços do concelho is still the town hall.^[15][16] In Galicia the pazo is the manor house of the old rural nobility.^[17]

Timeline

• 13th century – paaço in the Cantigas de Santa Maria and the Crónica Troiana.^[10][3]
• 1344 – the plural pááços.^[2]
• 1390 – paaço “manor house” in a notarial book of Noia.^[10]
• 14th century – first records of paço.^[2]
• 1513 – paço in the Livro dos Mártires.^[18]
• 1569 – Cardoso translates Paço as Latin aula.^[19]
• 1611 – Barbosa records cousa de paço “courtly”.^[20]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau distinguishes the court (singular) from the building (plural).^[12]
• 1798–1799 – Viterbo explains the medieval paço of the notaries.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A royal or episcopal palace (palácio); the residence of a sovereign or prelate.^{[2][21][15][1]}
2. The court; the people who live in or frequent the palace.^[2][22]
3. A manor or grand house of a noble family.^[15][23][1]
4. (Portugal, often paços do concelho) The town hall.^[2][16]
5. (obsolete) A notary's office.^[23][11]
6. (obsolete, figurative) A mocking or joking remark.^[2][14]

Related words

• palácio
• palaciano
• Latin palātium
• Galician pazo

Usage notes

Paço is pronounced like passo “step”, and dictionaries warn against confusing the two.^[23][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. paço
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. palácio
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. paço
5. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. palātium
6. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. palácio
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6159
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. palatium
9. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 346
10. ^ a b c d e 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. paaço
11. ^ a b c 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, 194
12. ^ 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. paço
13. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 380
14. ^ a b c 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. paço
15. ^ 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. paço
16. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6805
17. ^ Estraviz, Isaac Alonso, Dicionário Estraviz, https://estraviz.org, p. s.v. paço
18. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. paço
19. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. paço
20. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. paço
21. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. paço
22. ^ 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. paço
23. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. paço