perverso

Forms

perverso (feminine perversa, masculine plural perversos, feminine plural perversas)^[1] Houaiss records peruersa in the 14th century, perversa and perversso in the 15th and preversa in 1540.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin perversus (“turned the wrong way round; perverse”), a learned word.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin adjective is the past participle of pervertō (“to overturn, to corrupt”).^[5][6] Houaiss glosses the Latin word as “turned inside out; disordered, done against the rules and customs”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the adjective to the 14th century, spelt peruersa;^[2][3] Cunha dates it to the 15th.^[2][3] Lorenzo quotes the chronicle of King Pedro: conhecendo sua perversa condiçom “knowing his wicked nature”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

From the first records the word describes a wicked character.^[7] Bluteau defines it as bad, doing the opposite of one's duty, and quotes the preacher Vieira: Nenhuma cousa he mais perversa, que os olhos “Nothing is more perverse than the eyes”.^[8] Morais gives “bad, depraved”.^[9] The modern dictionaries add the sense of a person given to perversions, especially sexual ones, and a term of psychology for an incurable antisocial behaviour.^[2][10]

Timeline

• 14th century – first record, as peruersa.^[2]
• 15th century – the spellings perversa and perversso.^[2]
• 1540 – the metathesised spelling preversa.^[2]
• 1542 – perverso in a private letter.^[11]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines it and quotes Vieira.^[8]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as bad and depraved.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Showing perversion (perversão): hábitos perversos.^[2][12]
2. Of very bad character, inclined to cruelty; wicked, malvado, perverse.^[2][12][1]
3. (psychology) Showing persistent antisocial behaviour.^[10]

Noun

1. A wicked person.^[2][12]
2. A person given to perversions, especially sexual ones; a pervert.^[2][13]

Related words

• perverter
• perversão
• perversidade
• pervertido
• Latin perversus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. perverso
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. perverso
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. perverso
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. peruersus
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. perversus
7. ^ a b 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. perverso
8. ^ 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. perverso
9. ^ 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, 193
10. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7126
11. ^ 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. perverso
12. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. perverso
13. ^ 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. perverso