pintura

Forms

pintura f (plural pinturas)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote pintura;^[2][3] Houaiss also records pituras in the 14th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *pinctūra, an altered form of Latin pictūra (“painting”), written Old Galician-Portuguese pintura in the oldest texts.^[2][4][5][1] The /n/ of the popular form comes from the verb pingō (“to paint”), whose present stem has a nasal; the Spanish dictionary of the Academy puts it down to a popular participle *pinctus beside classical pictus.^[6][1] The Latin noun is itself formed from the verb with the suffix -tūra.^[7][1]

The same popular form gave Galician pintura, Spanish pintura, Catalan pintura, Occitan pintura and French peinture, and Italian pittura is of the same origin.^[8][1] Houaiss reports that Machado preferred to derive the Portuguese word from the old Italian pintura, which existed beside pentura.^[2] Houaiss himself, Cunha and the other dictionaries take it straight from the Vulgar Latin form.^[2][4][9] Nascentes notes that Meyer-Lübke's etymological dictionary (no. 6482) does not give the Portuguese form, and that Adolfo Coelho derived it from the classical word.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first date, 1103, is a Latin charter that names a field de Pinturas between Trauazos and Porcas, a place name inside the Latin.^[2][3] In Galician-Portuguese the word appears in the 13th century.^[4][2] In the Cantigas de Santa Maria the images of the Virgin found at Gethsemane are said to be neither painted (non foron de pinturas) nor carved, and another cantiga has pintar de pintura “to paint with colour”.^[3] The Crónica Troiana uses it both for colouring (marbles that had their colour not por pintura but by nature) and for paintings in a temple (grandes obras et pinturas).^[3]

Semantic evolution

The medieval word already meant both the colour laid on and the painted picture.^[3] Bluteau's book of synonyms pairs it with painel, retrato and debuxo and calls painting the sister of poetry.^[10] Morais in 1789 defines it as the liberal art of representing natural things with paints, and names its kinds: pintura a óleo, pintura á tempera, illumination on parchment and pen drawing.^[11]

Later dictionaries add the coat of paint on a wall or object, the profession of the house painter and of the artist, a vivid description in words, and the phrase é uma pintura for a very beautiful person or thing.^[12][13][2] Modern Brazilian and European dictionaries also use it for facial make-up.^[9][14]

Timeline

• 1103 – a Latin charter names a field de Pinturas.^[3][2]
• 13th century – first records in Galician-Portuguese, among them the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[4][3]
• 14th century – Houaiss records the spelling pituras.^[2]
• c. 1430 – the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437) uses the word.^[15]
• 1569 – Cardoso's Portuguese–Latin dictionary renders it with Latin pictura.^[16]
• 1789 – Morais lists pintura a óleo and pintura á tempera.^[11]
• 1871 – Vieira derives the word from the classical Latin noun.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or result of painting (pintar) something or oneself.^[2][9]
2. The work or profession of a pintor.^[2][9]
3. A coat of paint or other colouring on a surface: O portão precisa de uma pintura nova.^[2][18]
4. colour, tint: the colouring chosen for a room or object.^[2][9]
5. (art) The art and technique of representing figures or forms on a surface with paint; the art of the painter.^[2][9][18]
6. A painting, a picture; also the body of paintings of an artist, school or period.^[9][12][1]
7. make-up on the face.^[9][14]
8. (figurative) A faithful description in words.^[13][12]
9. (figurative) A very beautiful person or thing: A noiva estava uma pintura.^[13][14]

Related words

• pintar
• pintor
• Latin pictūra
• Galician pintura

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. pintura
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. pintura
4. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. pintura
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. pintura
6. ^ 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. pintura
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b 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
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. pintura
10. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pintura, Vocabulario de synonymos
11. ^ 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, 204
12. ^ a b c 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. pintura
13. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. pintura
14. ^ 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. pintura
15. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. pintura
16. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pintura
17. ^ 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, 807
18. ^ a b 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. pintura