pintar

Forms

pintar (first-person singular present pinto, first-person singular preterite pintei, past participle pintado)^[1] Houaiss records the historical spellings pitar (14th century) and píntam (15th century).^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *pinctō (“to paint”), a frequentative verb built on *pinctus, the Vulgar Latin participle of Latin pingō (“to paint, to colour”), whose classical participle was pictus.^[2][3][4] The oldest texts already write it Old Galician-Portuguese pintar.^[5][1] Wiktionary sets an older *pictō behind it.^[1] Nascentes explains the form in two ways: in 1955, following Meyer-Lübke, Cornu and Nunes, as a cross of the frequentative with the present stem; in 1966 as the nasal infix of the present spreading, against the usual rule, to the supine and participle, perhaps helped by tinctus (“dyed”).^[6][7] The Spanish Academy's dictionary likewise derives the Spanish verb from a form of the participle remodelled after the present.^[8]

The same Vulgar Latin verb is Galician pintar, Spanish pintar, Catalan pintar and Occitan pintar, while most other Romance languages kept the Latin verb itself: Italian pingere, French peindre and penher.^[4][9][1] Corominas dates the Spanish verb to 1220–1250 and the Catalan one to the 13th century.^[10][4]

The Latin verb continues *pingō, a nasal-infix present of *peyḱ- (“to mark, paint; to spot, colour”), which de Vaan reconstructs as *pi-n-ḱ- “to paint, adorn”.^[11][1] Its cognates include ποικίλος (poikílos, “spotted, embroidered”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria use the verb for images painted on wood: one speaks of the Virgin's likeness que era pintada en hua tavoa “which was painted on a panel”, and another of a painter whom the devil wanted to kill because he painted him ugly.^[5] In the 13th-century satirical cantigas Afonso X mocks a man who fez pintar escudo “had a shield painted”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Medieval texts already use the verb both for colouring a surface and for portraying: the Crónica Troiana has helmets, shields and saddles pintadas todas a hũa color “all painted one colour”, and also uses it for drawing a portrait.^[5] Bluteau (1712–1728) defines it as working with brushes to imitate the shapes of things with well-placed colours.^[12] Folqman (1755) records grapes that começão a pintar “begin to colour” and pintar de brancas, said of hair turning grey.^[13] Morais (1813) adds the figurative sense “to describe in words”.^[14]

A popular sense “to trick, to fool” is recorded in the original Caldas Aulete and in Priberam.^[15][16] In Brazil, informal speech from the 1960s gave the verb the senses “to turn up, to happen” and “to look promising (or not)”.^[2] In rural Portugal it can mean “to grow well, to give a good crop”, said of potatoes or turnips.^[17]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records; the Cantigas de Santa Maria speak of images pintadas.^[2][3][5]
• 14th century – Houaiss records the spelling pitar.^[2]
• c. 1430 – the Horto do Esposo uses pintar.^[18]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary glosses pintar with Latin pingo.^[19]
• 1611 – Barbosa adds depingo and phrases for painting a likeness.^[20]
• 1755 – Folqman records fruit and hair that pintam, taking on colour.^[13]
• 1813 – Morais lists the figurative sense “to describe in words”.^[14]
• 1960s – the Brazilian informal senses “to turn up” and “to happen”.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To represent figures or scenes with lines and colours; to paint a picture: Pintou o rio ao pôr do sol.^[2][15][1]
2. (intransitive) To practise the art of painting; to be a painter (pintor).^[2][21][1]
3. To cover a surface with tinta (paint): Vamos pintar a cozinha de azul.^[2][16][1]
4. To give colour to;^[2][22][23] (intransitive) to take on colour, to ripen (of fruit).^[2][22][23]
5. (intransitive) Of hair, to begin to turn grey.^[2]
6. (reflexive) To put on make-up; to dye one's hair or beard.^[15][22][1]
7. (figurative) To describe in detail and vividly, in speech or writing; also, to describe with exaggeration.^[2][23][1]
8. (popular) To deceive, to fool.^[2][16][23]
9. (Brazil, informal) To turn up, to appear; to happen, to come up: Pintou um convite para a festa.^[2][15][1]
10. (Brazil, informal) To look promising or unpromising: pintar bem, pintar mal.^[2][16]

Word family

• pinta
• pintado
• pintada
• pintalgar
• pintável
• sarapintar

Related words

• pintor
• pintura
• pitoresco
• Latin pingō
• Spanish pintar

Usage notes

The phrase pintar a manta means “to get up to mischief”, and vir a pintar “to come at the right moment”.^[23][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. pintar
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. pintar
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 558
5. ^ a b c d e 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. pintar
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. 399
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. pintar
8. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. pintar
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6512
10. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. pintar
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pintar
13. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pintar
14. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 453
15. ^ a b c d 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. pintar
16. ^ a b c d e Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. pintar
17. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. pintar
18. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. pintar
19. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pintar
20. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pintar
21. ^ 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. pintar
22. ^ a b c Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. pintar
23. ^ a b c d e Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7195