peso

Forms

peso m (plural pesos)^[1] Houaiss records the spelling pesso in the 14th century, and the Crónica Geral has it beside peso.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *pēsum, from Latin pēnsum (“a quantity of wool to be spun; a task”), written Old Galician-Portuguese peso in the oldest texts.^[2][1][3] The Latin noun is the neuter of the past participle of pendō (“to hang; to weigh”);^[2][1] Houaiss calls it the supine.^[2][1] The REW writes the etymon pe(n)sum, with the /n/ lost before /s/ already in Latin speech.^[4]

The same Latin word is Galician peso, Spanish peso, Catalan pes, Italian peso, Romanian păs (“sorrow”) and French poids, whose ⟨d⟩ is a late spelling after pondus (“weight”).^[4][5] García de Diego holds that the Spanish noun was formed on the verb pesar rather than inherited.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to the 13th century, from Cunha's slips of medieval Portuguese.^[2] In the Cantigas de Santa Maria a woman promises that, if she has a son, she will bring him in a year together with his weight in wax (con seu peso de cera).^[3]

Semantic evolution

The Crónica Troiana uses the word for physical weight and figuratively for a hard and risky undertaking, and the Crónica Geral has estar en peso for a battle hanging in the balance.^[3] Houaiss dates the sense “burden, charge” to the 14th century.^[2] In the notarial books of Noia gold florins are de justo peso “of full weight” (1435).^[3]

Bluteau defined weight as the natural tendency of all bodies to go downwards, and Morais as the quantity of matter that makes a body press on what it rests on.^[7][8] Modern dictionaries add the physical definition as a force, the weights of a balance and of a clock, the shot of athletics, the weight classes of boxing and weightlifting, and figurative senses: influence, oppression, and in Brazil bad luck.^[2][9][10]

Houaiss also lists the currency of Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Uruguay, the Philippines and other countries among the senses of the word.^[2] Wiktionary treats that sense as a borrowing from Spanish peso.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – con seu peso de cera in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[3][2]
• 14th century – the spelling pesso and the sense “burden”.^[2]
• c. 1430 – the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437) uses the word.^[11]
• 1435 – de justo peso in a notarial book of Noia.^[3]
• 1569 – Cardoso translates peso as Latin pondus.^[12]
• 1611 – Barbosa adds Latin onus “load”.^[13]
• 1712 – Bluteau defines weight as a property of all bodies.^[7]
• 1813 – Morais defines it as the quantity of matter in a body.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (physics) weight, the force with which gravity pulls a body.^[2][9][1]
2. heaviness, the quality of being heavy.^[2][1]
3. A piece of metal of known weight used as a standard in weighing; a weight that drives a clock.^[2][14]
4. Any heavy object; a load: Carregava aquele peso desde a estação.^[2]
5. (sports) A weight class; in athletics, the shot; a weight lifted in training.^[2][1]
6. (figurative) Influence, importance;^[2][1] de peso “weighty, influential”.^[2][1]
7. (figurative) A burden; a feeling of oppression or discomfort.^[2][1]
8. (informal) Bad luck.^[2][10]
9. (mathematics) A weight, a factor by which a quantity is multiplied.^[2][1]
10. The peso, the currency of Argentina, Chile, Mexico, the Philippines and other countries.^[2][1]

Related words

• pesado
• pesagem
• Latin pensum
• Galician peso

Usage notes

The idiom dois pesos e duas medidas “two weights and two measures” means judging like cases differently.^[2][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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 v Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. peso
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. peso
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6394
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
7. ^ 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. peso
8. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 442
9. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. peso
10. ^ a b Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. peso
11. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. peso
12. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. peso
13. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. peso
14. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. peso