peito

Forms

peito m (plural peitos)^[1] Houaiss records pecto and peytos in the 14th century.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pectus (“chest, breast”), written Old Galician-Portuguese peito in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] Nascentes and Aurélio derive the singular from an old plural Old Galician-Portuguese peitos, taken from the Latin neuter and used for both the breasts of a woman and the chest of a man.^[4][5] The plural survives in some set phrases.^[4] The short Latin /e/ gave closed /e/ here under the influence of the following semivowel.^[6]

The same Latin word is Galician peito, Spanish pecho, Catalan pit, Old French piz, Italian petto and Romanian piept.^[7][1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *pektos- and finds a likely cognate in Old Irish ucht (“breast”), if it comes from an earlier form with /e/; the PIE origin is uncertain.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's chronology gives the Cantigas de Santa Maria as the first record: the Virgin is she who carried God and de seu peito / mamentou “suckled him at her breast”, and an old woman is made to strike herself no peito.^[9] The plural peitos is the bared breast, and de peitos means “face down”.^[9] So the first senses are both the breast that suckles and the chest.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712) describes the chest anatomically, and his book of synonyms gives peito for heart, love, affection and will.^[10][11] Morais (1789) adds peitos for a woman's breasts, the hidden thoughts, the mind and courage.^[12]

The modern dictionaries add the lungs and breathing organs, the front of a shirt, and the breast meat of cattle and fowl.^[2][5] In Brazil it also names the breaststroke.^[1] The word passed into Guinea-Bissau Creole as pitu.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records, in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[2][3][9]
• 14th century – the spellings pecto and peytos.^[2]
• 1416 – the Vida do Cativo Monge Confesso is the first text of the CTA corpus with the word.^[13]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders it by Latin pectus.^[14]
• 1712 – Bluteau describes the chest and lists peito among the synonyms of heart and love.^[10]
• 1789 – Morais records peitos for a woman's breasts and the sense “courage”.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy) The chest, the part of the body between the neck and the abdomen; thorax.^[2][5][1]
2. A woman's breast: dar o peito ao bebé.^[2][15][1]
3. The lungs and breathing organs: sofrer do peito.^[2][16]
4. The front of a shirt or garment.^[2][15]
5. Breast meat of cattle or poultry: peito de frango.^[2][5]
6. (figurative) Courage, spirit.^[2][17]
7. (figurative) The heart, as the seat of feeling.^[2][5]
8. (Brazil, swimming) breaststroke.^[1]

Word family

• peitaça
• peitaço
• peitada
• peituga
• peitilho

Related words

• apertar
• expectorar
• peitoral
• peitoril
• Latin pectus
• Spanish pecho

Usage notes

Houaiss records a separate archaic noun peito “tax, tribute, fine”, a popular form of Latin pactum “agreement” and a synonym of peita; it appears as peito in a Latin charter of 1084 and as peitu in 1121.^[2][1] A cantiga says that the king has forbidden que juiz non filhe peito “that a judge take payment”.^[18]

Nascentes notes the old plural in meter a faca aos peitos.^[4] Fixed phrases: tomar a peito “to take to heart”, peito a peito “face to face”, abrir o peito “to open one's heart”.^[2][17][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. peito
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. peito
4. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. peito
5. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. peito
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 388
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. pectus
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ 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. peito
10. ^ 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. peito
11. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. peito, Vocabulario de synonymos
12. ^ 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, 178
13. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. peito
14. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. peito
15. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7019
16. ^ 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. peito
17. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. peito
18. ^ 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. peito