padrinho

Forms

padrinho m (plural padrinhos, feminine madrinha, feminine plural madrinhas)^[1] Houaiss's historical forms are padryo (13th century) and padrinho, paadiho and padrymhos (14th century); the Cantigas de Santa Maria write padrỹo.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Medieval Latin patrīnus (“godfather”), written Old Galician-Portuguese padrỹo in the oldest texts.^[2][1][4][5] The Latin word is formed from pater (“father”) with the suffix -īnus, and is first recorded in the 8th century.^[1][6] Nascentes explains it as “a second father, a spiritual father”, and quotes from Brachet a Carolingian charter of 752 that calls the godfather a “spiritual father”.^[7] Silva Bastos in 1912 still derived it from patrōnus.^[8] The Latin word for “father” goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tḗr (“father”).^[1]

The same Latin word is Galician padriño, Spanish padrino, Catalan padrí, Occitan pairin, Italian padrino and, with a change of suffix, French parrain.^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Latin charter of 1091 already has meo patrino “my godfather”.^[3] In Galician-Portuguese the word appears in the 13th century: one of the Cantigas de Santa Maria has fillar un seu padrỹo, and the Crónica of 1344 pairs the godfather with the tutor (como amo e padrinho).^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The godfather at baptism and confirmation is the core sense.^[2][10] Morais (1789) adds the witness at a wedding, at the conferring of a doctorate, at the knighting of a man, and the second who measures the ground and protects a duellist.^[11] Bluteau's book of synonyms already treats padrinho as “patron, protector”, and the figurative “protector, patron” lives on in the saying quem tem padrinho não morre pagão “whoever has a godfather does not die a heathen”.^[12][13]

In Brazil a padrinho is also the pai de santo of the candomblé de caboclo in Bahia, and in Rio Grande do Sul the horseman who helps a horse-breaker.^[6][14][15] In parts of Portugal stepchildren call their stepfather padrinho.^[16]

Timeline

• 1091 – meo patrino in a Latin charter.^[3]
• 13th century – first record, spelt padryo; the Cantigas de Santa Maria write padrỹo.^[2][3]
• 14th century – padrinho in the Crónica of 1344.^[2][3]
• 1513 – padriho in the Livro dos Mártires.^[17]
• 1593 – padrinho in a private letter.^[18]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau describes the godfather's office of naming the child.^[12]
• 1789 – Morais lists the witness at weddings, doctorates and duels.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A godfather: the man who presents someone, usually a child, for baptism (batismo) or confirmation and takes on a duty to care for the child.^[2][10][1]
2. A man who witnesses a wedding, chosen by the bride, the groom or both; a best man.^[2][6][1]
3. (dated) The man who accompanies a graduate or a new doctor at the ceremony.^[2][6][19]
4. A second in a duel, who marks the distances and stands for one of the duellists.^[2][19]
5. (figurative) A protector or patron; someone who names or inaugurates something.^[2][5][10]
6. (in the plural) The godfather and godmother together.^[2]
7. (Bahia) The pai de santo of the candomblé de caboclo.^[6][14]
8. (Brazil, informal, with meu) A form of address, often to a waiter.^[1]

Word family

• apadrinhar

Related words

• compadre
• padrasto
• padre
• pai
• paterno
• madrinha
• Latin pater
• Galician padriño
• Spanish padrino

Usage notes

Mandar os padrinhos was a formal way to challenge someone to a duel.^[19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. padrinho
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. padrỹo
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. padrinho
5. ^ 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. padrinho
6. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. padrinho
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 373
8. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. padrinho
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6298
10. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. padrinho
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, 146
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. padrinho
13. ^ 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. padrinho
14. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. padrinho
15. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. padrinho
16. ^ 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. padrinho
17. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. padriho
18. ^ 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. padrinho
19. ^ a b c 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. padrinho