paixão

Forms

paixão f (plural paixões)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote paixon and paxon (13th century), payxõ (14th century); the 15th century has paixão, the learned passiom and paxam.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin passiō (“suffering; passion”), by the popular route, written Old Galician-Portuguese paixon and Old Galician-Portuguese paxon in the oldest texts.^[2][1][4][3] The Latin noun is formed from patior (“to suffer, undergo”).^[1][5] Its sense “strong feeling” is a loan from Ancient Greek πάθος (páthos).^[1][6]

The /j/ of the Latin ⟨-ssio-⟩ moved into the stressed syllable, forming a diphthong, and the double /s/ before it became /ʃ/, written ⟨x⟩, as in baixo and roixo.^[7] Nunes also lists the popular and old paxão.^[8]

The same Latin word is Galician paixón, Mirandese paixon, Spanish pasión, French passion, Italian passione and Romanian pasiune.^[1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The cantigas use the word for the Passion of Christ: the Cantigas de Santa Maria say he sofreu paxon “suffered the Passion” and pres por nos paxon “took on the Passion for us”, and Pero da Ponte writes prês mort' e paixon “suffered death and Passion”.^[3][9] Another cantiga uses it for the Gospel narrative of the Passion: assi queria Avangelh' e mui pequena paixon “so he would want a Gospel and a very short Passion”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

From the Passion of Christ and the martyrs the word passed to suffering in general.^[2] From the 14th century it is also a strong feeling that clouds reason, and the 15th century has paxam for martyrdom and passõoes for the feelings.^[2] Nascentes traces the same path, from “torment”, still alive in Sexta-feira da Paixão, to “movement of the soul” and above all the suffering of love.^[4] Cardoso (1569) glosses it with Latin molestia “trouble”.^[10] Vieira lists the Passion, the sermon on it preached on Good Friday and the Gospel passage, then the feelings.^[11]

Modern senses include the object of one's passion, anger, partiality and fanaticism, and the feeling an artist puts into a work; philosophy uses the word for Kant's and Nietzsche's concepts and for Aristotle's category of being acted on.^[2] In Portugal the dialects keep “grief, longing” and “anger, fury”.^[12]

Timeline

• 13th century – paxon and paixon “the Passion” in the cantigas.^[3][2]
• 14th century – payxõ; the sense “strong feeling”.^[2]
• 15th century – paixão;^[2] paxam “martyrdom”, passõoes “feelings”.^[2]
• 1513 – paixão in the Livro dos Mártires.^[13]
• 1541 – paixam in a private letter of 1541 at the latest.^[14]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary glosses paixão as molestia.^[10]
• 1871 – Vieira: the Passion, its sermon and Gospel, and the feelings.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (usually capitalised) The Passion, the suffering and death of Christ; the Gospel passage that tells it; the martyrdom of a saint.^[2][15]
2. (theatre, music) A play or oratorio on the Passion.^[2]
3. Great suffering, torment; deep grief.^[2][16]
4. passion: an intense feeling or love that overrides reason; great enthusiasm for something.^[2][1][17]
5. The object of such a feeling: a pesca é a grande paixão do avô.^[2][18]
6. Uncontrolled anger, fury.^[2][12]
7. Partiality, fanaticism.^[2][19]
8. Feeling, warmth, emotion conveyed by a work of art.^[2]
9. (philosophy) In Kant, a violent emotional inclination that can dominate conduct;^[2] (logic) Aristotle's category of being acted upon.^[2]

Word family

• apaixonar
• apaixonado

Related words

• compaixão
• passivo
• paciente
• padecer
• Latin passiō
• Spanish pasión

Usage notes

Houaiss, Aurélio and Michaelis also record a nautical paixão, a metal ring fixed on the keelson to hold the cable's stopper;^[2][17][19] Houaiss calls its origin obscure.^[2][17][19]

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 l m n o p q r s t u Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. paixão
3. ^ a b c d 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. paixon
4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. paixão
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b 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
7. ^ Nunes, José Joaquim (1945), Compêndio de gramática histórica portuguesa (fonética e morfologia), 5th ed., Lisboa: Livraria Clássica, p. 144
8. ^ Nunes, José Joaquim (1945), Compêndio de gramática histórica portuguesa (fonética e morfologia), 5th ed., Lisboa: Livraria Clássica, p. 79
9. ^ a b 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. paixon
10. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. paixão
11. ^ a b Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 4, 630
12. ^ a b 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. paixão
13. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. paixão
14. ^ 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. paixão
15. ^ 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. paixão
16. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. paixão
17. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. paixão
18. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6818
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. paixão