polícia

Forms

polícia f (plural polícias)^[1] Houaiss records the 15th-century spellings policia, poliçia and pollicia.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin polītīa (“administration of the state, government”), recorded from the 15th century.^[2][3][1] Nascentes calls it a semi-learned word.^[4] Cicero used the Latin word for the title of Plato's Republic, and Late Latin for the administration of the commonwealth.^[5][6] It comes from Ancient Greek πολιτεία (politeía, “citizenship; body of citizens; government, constitution”), formed from πολίτης (polítēs, “citizen”) with an abstract suffix.^[1] The Greek word goes back to πόλις (pólis, “city, state”).^[7]

The same Latin word is French police, recorded about 1250 in the spelling ⟨pollice⟩.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cunha gives the original sense as good upbringing, and Morais's dictionary of 1813 defines it first as the government and internal administration of the state, above all its cleanliness, its supply of food and clothing, and the security of the citizens, with a quotation from the Ordenações Afonsinas: pera o dito povo viver em boa, e direita policia “so that the said people live in good and right order”.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

Morais gives a second sense, polish and good manners in speech and dress, with an example from Camões.^[8] Caldas Aulete's old dictionary quotes Camões's a policia portuguesa na paz e na milícia “Portuguese civilisation in peace and war”, and the sense “civilisation, culture” is now marked as old.^[9][10] The modern senses are the body of laws that keep public order, the force that enforces them and its members.^[2][3] As a masculine or feminine noun it also names a single officer, a use labelled colloquial by Wiktionary;^[1] policial also names the officer.^[1][11][12] The word passed into Tetum as polísia.^[1]

Timeline

• 1400s – first record, as Houaiss and Cunha date it, spelt policia, poliçia and pollicia.^[2][3]
• 1789 – first dictionary record of the derivative policiar.^[13]
• 1813 – Morais defines it as the government and internal administration of the state;^[8][14] policial is recorded the same year.^[8][14]
• 1817 – Policia in a private letter.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. The body of laws and rules that keep order, morality and safety in a society.^[2][10]
2. The police, the force charged with enforcing them: Chamaram a polícia depois do assalto.^[2][16][1]
3. The members of that force, collectively.^[2][10]
4. Public order, discipline.^[2][10]
5. (archaic) civilisation, refinement of manners.^[2][10]
6. Measures for the protection of public health; inspection.^[2][10]
7. (printing) The founder's list of the letters and signs that make up a fount of type.^[2][10]
8. (masculine or feminine; colloquial, chiefly Portugal) A police officer: Um polícia mandou parar o carro.^[2][16][1]

Word family

• policial
• policiar
• policiamento

Related words

• política
• político
• Latin politia
• French police

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. polícia
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. polícia
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. polícia
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. police
8. ^ a b c d Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 464
9. ^ 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. polícia
10. ^ a b c d e f g Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. polícia
11. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. polícia
12. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. policial
13. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. policiar
14. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. policial
15. ^ 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. polícia
16. ^ 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. polícia