paisagem

Forms

paisagem f (plural paisagens)^[1] The 16th and 17th centuries wrote paugage (1567), pausagens (1587), pasagem (1600), passagens (1649–1666) and paizagem (1656) beside paisagem.^[2][3] Morais (1789) put the forms pausagens, passagens and Góis's paugagem down to the ignorance or error of the typesetters.^[4] Silva Bastos (1912) still entered the word under paizagem.^[5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French paysage (“landscape”).^[2][3][6][1] Houaiss dates the French word to 1549 as a term of painting, to 1556 in the sense “a group of countries” and to 1573 as “the stretch of land the eye takes in”.^[2] The French word is formed from pays (“country”) with the suffix -age.^[7][1]

The same French word is the source of Spanish paisaje and Italian paesaggio.^[8][1] Silva Bastos derived the Portuguese word directly from paiz, but the dictionaries since agree on the French source.^[5][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is from 1567, in Damião de Góis's chronicle of King Manuel, where the word is printed paugage.^[2][4] Morais cites the same passage as paugagem.^[2][4] The early dictionaries treat it as a word of painting: Bluteau quotes a description of Lisbon that speaks of panels de boas paisagens “of fine landscapes”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Morais (1789) defined it as a term of painting, a view or picture of lands and fields.^[4] In the 19th century the main sense became the stretch of country seen from one place, with the painting as a second sense, and Silva Bastos added the literary description of country scenes.^[5][10] Modern dictionaries add the geographical sense, a type of terrain or environment, and the general features of a biome.^[2][1] In computing it names the page orientation with the long edge horizontal.^[11]

Timeline

• 1549 – French paysage is first recorded, as a term of painting.^[2][7]
• 1567 – Góis's chronicle of King Manuel has paugage.^[2][4]
• 1587 – the spelling pausagens; 1600 pasagem.^[2]
• 1656 – the spelling paizagem.^[2][3]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau lists paisagem with a quotation on painted panels.^[9]
• 1789 – Morais calls it a term of painting and lists the misprinted forms.^[4]
• 1912 – Silva Bastos heads the word paizagem.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A landscape, the stretch of land that can be taken in at one glance; a view or panorama.^[2][12][1]
2. The whole of the natural and man-made features of an outdoor space as seen from a place.^[2][10]
3. A type of geographical space or terrain: uma paisagem de serra; the general character of a biome.^[2][1]
4. (art) A painting, drawing, engraving or photograph of a natural or urban scene; the genre of such pictures.^[2][13][12]
5. (literature) A passage or work that describes country scenes.^[13][11]
6. (computing) Landscape orientation of a page.^[11]

Word family

• paisagista
• paisagismo
• paisagístico

Related words

• país
• French paysage
• Spanish paisaje

Usage notes

The word can be spoken with a diphthong, /paj/, or with two syllables, /pa.i/.^[14][1] Priberam marks the hiatus, and Wiktionary also lists the spelling païsagem.^[14][1]

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 m n o Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. paisagem
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. país
4. ^ a b c d e f 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, 147
5. ^ a b c d Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. paizagem
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. paisagem
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. paysage
8. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. paisaje
9. ^ 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. paisagem
10. ^ 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. paisagem
11. ^ 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. paisagem
12. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. paisagem
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. paisagem
14. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. paisagem