paraíso

Forms

paraíso m (plural paraísos)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote parayso and pareiso;^[2][3][4] Houaiss also records paraiisso in 1365 and prayso in the 15th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin paradīsus (“park; the garden of Eden; heaven”), written Old Galician-Portuguese parayso in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] Nascentes and Aurélio call it a semi-learned word.^[5][6]

The same Latin word is Galician paraíso, Spanish paraíso and Italian paradiso; French parvis “the square in front of a church” is a popular outcome of it, from a Medieval Latin sense “porch”.^[7][1][8][9] Corominas also considers the Spanish word semi-learned; it is recorded from the Cid on.^[10]

Latin took the word from Ancient Greek παράδεισος (parádeisos), which meant an enclosed park with animals in Xenophon, a garden and the garden of Eden in the Septuagint, and the abode of the blessed in the New Testament.^[11][12] The Greek word is Iranian: Beekes takes it from Avestan pairi-daēza (“enclosure”), whose second part is cognate with τεῖχος (teîkhos, “wall”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ-.^[11] Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Iranian *paridayjah.^[1] Houaiss, Nascentes and Aurélio start from Old Persian paridaeza (“circular enclosure”) and put the Hebrew word for “orchard” between it and Greek.^[2][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Latin record of 887 already names a place Paraiso in Deza, in Galicia.^[4] In Galician-Portuguese verse the word is in the Cantigas de Santa Maria: the second cantiga tells of hũa alva que trouxe de Parayso “an alb brought from Paradise”, and another of one who always suffered hardship por aver Parayso “to gain Paradise”.^[4] The glossary of the Cantigas gives the senses “paradise” and “heaven, the celestial kingdom”.^[4][13]

Semantic evolution

The medieval texts use the word for heaven and for the earthly paradise: the Crónica Troiana speaks of a beast that lives ẽno parayso terreal “in the earthly paradise”.^[14] Morais (1789) gives the garden of our first parents, bliss, and any delightful garden, with ave do paraíso “bird of paradise” and árvore do paraíso.^[15] Vieira (1871) begins with the great parks of the ancient Persians, a sense taken from the Greek, and gives the figurative “delightful dwelling”: este paiz é um paraíso.^[16]

In theatres the word names the top gallery, close to the ceiling.^[17] In Brazil, and especially in Rio Grande do Sul, it is also the name of the chinaberry tree, planted to shade yards and houses.^[2][18] The compound paraíso fiscal “tax haven” belongs to modern economics.^[2][19]

Timeline

• 887 – a Latin record names the place Paraiso in Deza.^[4]
• 13th century, second half – Parayso in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[4][2]
• 1288 – the place name Ual de Pareiso.^[4]
• 1365 – the spelling paraiisso.^[2]
• c. 1430 – parayso in the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437).^[20]
• 1789 – Morais lists ave do paraíso and árvore do paraíso.^[15]
• 1881 – first record of the adjective paradisíaco.^[21]

Meanings

Noun

1. (history) A great park of the ancient Persian kings and nobles.^[2][22][23]
2. (religion) The garden in which, according to the Bible, God placed Adam and Eve; Éden.^[2][6][1]
3. (religion) Heaven (céu), the dwelling of the angels and of the blessed after death.^[2][17][1]
4. (figurative) Any delightful, pleasant place: Aquela praia é um paraíso.^[2][6][19]
5. (theatre) The top gallery, the seats just under the ceiling.^[17]
6. (botany) The chinaberry tree (Melia azedarach), cinamomo.^[2][18]
7. paraíso fiscal: a tax haven.^[2][19]

Word family

• paraíso fiscal

Related words

• paradisíaco
• Latin paradisus
• Ancient Greek παράδεισος (parádeisos)
• Spanish paraíso

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. paraíso
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. paraíso
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. paraiso
5. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. paraíso
6. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. paraíso
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. parvis
9. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 389
11. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ 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. paraiso
14. ^ 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. parayso
15. ^ 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, 156
16. ^ 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, 655
17. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. paraíso
18. ^ a b Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz
19. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6890
20. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. parayso
21. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. paradisíaco
22. ^ 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. paraíso
23. ^ 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. paraíso