perfumar

Forms

perfumar (first-person singular present perfumo, first-person singular preterite perfumei, past participle perfumado)^[1] The first record has the spelling prefumadas.^[2] Cunha also notes pre- in the 16th century.^[3]

Etymology

Houaiss takes it as borrowed from French parfumer, first “to fumigate” (14th century) and since 1528 “to fill with a pleasant smell”, from Vulgar Latin *perfūmō formed from per (“through”) and fūmō (“to smoke, give off smoke”), probably through Italian perfumare, a form recorded only from 1640 but alive in the dialects.^[2] Aulete and DELPo also give French, DELPo by way of old Italian, while Cunha thinks only of the Italian verb and Porto Editora of Occitan.^[4][5][3][6] Nascentes, Aurélio and the DLP instead form it in Portuguese from the prefix per- and fumar, in the sense “to give off a fragrant smoke”.^[7][8][9]

The DHLF thinks the French verb itself was borrowed from a Mediterranean language that cannot be identified: Italian has profumare from 1508, Old Occitan perfumar appears in 1500, Catalan perfumar in the 14th century and Spanish perfumar in 1490, before the Portuguese verb of the 16th century.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a work by Gil Vicente of 1527, with the participle prefumadas.^[2] The old dictionaries describe the act of burning sweet-smelling things: Cardoso (1569) and Barbosa (1611) render it with Latin suffio and fumigo, and Bluteau (1712) explains it as burning incense or pastilles so that their smoke gives a place or thing their fragrance.^[11][12][13]

Semantic evolution

Morais (1789) still defines the verb by burning perfumes, but adds the figurative sense of flowers that scent the air.^[14] Vieira (1871–1874) has the general sense “to give a good smell”, and figuratively that of spreading any smell, good or bad.^[15] Today the verb means to put perfume on someone or something and to fill a place with fragrance, and figuratively to sweeten or soften.^[2][8][9]

Timeline

• 1527 – prefumadas in Gil Vicente.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders it with Latin suffio.^[11]
• 1611 – Barbosa adds perfumada cousa, a thing fumigated.^[12]
• 1712 – Bluteau: to burn incense and other fragrant things.^[13]
• 1720 – Houaiss's first record of the spelling perfumar.^[2]
• 1789 – Morais adds the figurative sense of flowers perfuming the air.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, reflexive) To put perfume on someone, something or oneself: Perfumou o lenço antes da festa.^[2][8][1]
2. (transitive) To fill with a pleasant smell; to scent (aromatizar): As laranjeiras perfumavam a varanda.^[2][8][16]
3. (figurative) To sweeten or soften.^[9][6]

Word family

• perfumado
• perfumaria
• perfume
• perfumista

Related words

• fumar
• defumar
• fumigar
• French parfumer
• Italian profumare

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. perfumar
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. perfumar
4. ^ 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. perfumar
5. ^ NEHiLP – Núcleo de Apoio à Pesquisa em Etimologia e História da Língua Portuguesa, Universidade de São Paulo, DELPo: Dicionário Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa (online database), p. s.v. perfumar
6. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7084
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. perfumar
8. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. perfumar
9. ^ a b c 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. perfumar
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. parfumer
11. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. perfumar
12. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. perfumar
13. ^ 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. perfumar
14. ^ 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, 188
15. ^ 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, 762
16. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. perfumar