plácido

Forms

plácido (feminine plácida, masculine plural plácidos, feminine plural plácidas, comparable, comparative mais plácido, superlative o mais plácido or placidíssimo)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin placidus (“gentle, calm, peaceful”), a learned word.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin adjective is formed from placeō (“to please”) with the suffix -idus, so that its first sense was “disposed to please, kindly”.^[5][1][6] De Vaan traces the verb to Proto-Indo-European *pl(e)h₂/₃k- (“to agree, be pleasant”), with Tocharian its only direct cognate.^[6] Houaiss refers it to the family of prazer.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is the Flos Sanctorum of 1567, which Morais still cites for the word.^[2][7] The sense there is “calm, undisturbed”, of the mind, the sea or a life.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept the Latin senses “calm, quiet” and “gentle, mild”.^[2][3] Feijó in 1734 glosses it with sossegado, and Morais speaks of a calm mind, a still sea and a quiet river.^[8][7] It is a word of the literary language: Brazil's national anthem opens with the margens plácidas of the Ipiranga.^[9] The derivative placidez is recorded from 1881.^[3]

Timeline

• 1567 – first record, in the Flos Sanctorum.^[2]
• 1734 – Feijó glosses plácido as “quiet, calm”.^[8]
• 1813 – Morais has animo plácido, mar plácido and vida plácida.^[7]
• 1881 – first record of placidez.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. calm, serene, undisturbed; of a place or time, peaceful and quiet.^[2][9][10]
2. gentle, mild.^[2][11]
3. Peaceable (pacífico), showing peace of mind; not easily provoked.^[2][10]

Word family

• placidez

Related words

• prazer
• aprazer
• Latin placidus

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. plácido
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. plácido
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. plácido
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. placidus
6. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c d Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 457
8. ^ a b Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. plácido
9. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. plácido
10. ^ 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. plácido
11. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. plácido