positivo

Forms

positivo (feminine positiva, masculine plural positivos, feminine plural positivas, sometimes comparable)^[1] The oldest records spell it positiuo.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin positīvus, a learned word taken over in the 16th century.^[3][4][1] Houaiss gives the Latin sense as “conventional, accidental”, and Nascentes and the first Aurélio call the source word Scholastic Latin.^[2][5][6] In classical Latin the adjective meant “laid down by arbitrary choice”, as opposed to “natural”, in Gellius, and the grammarians used it for the positive degree of an adjective.^[7][8] It is formed from pōnō (“to place, put”) (through its past participle) with the suffix -īvus.^[7][1] Bluteau derived the word from Latin positiō (“proposition, thesis”).^[9]

The same Latin word was borrowed as French positif (about 1278), Spanish positivo and Italian positivo.^[10][11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is from 1540, spelt positiuo.^[2] Morais (1789) cites the grammar of Barros for the grammatical term, the positive degree of an adjective, opposed to the comparative.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The earliest uses are technical, in grammar, law and theology.^[9][12] Bluteau (1712–1728) explains cousa positiva as something certain and fixed, the opposite of what is doubtful or fabulous, and positive law as law resting on a human or church enactment rather than on divine institution.^[9] Morais (1789) adds the positive magnitude of algebra, marked +, positive law, positive theology (the study of revealed truths, as against the subtleties of the Scholastics) and the positive commandment, which orders something to be done.^[12]

In the 19th century the word took the senses “based on facts and experience” and “practical”, and Silva Bastos (1912) records the positive electrical fluid of physics.^[13][14] Positivismo is recorded from the 19th century and positivista from 1890.^[3] The senses “constructive”, “optimistic” and, in medicine, “confirming the presence of what was tested for” are modern.^[2][13] As a noun, positivo is short for órgão positivo, a small organ or the part of an organ with the flute stops, and for pólo positivo, the positive pole.^[2][15] In north-eastern Brazil a positivo is a messenger sent to carry news or objects, a sense the DLP also marks as Brazilian.^[16][15]

Timeline

• 1540 – first record, spelt positiuo.^[2]
• 1600 – positivo in a private letter of 1600 or earlier.^[17]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines the word as “certain, fixed” and explains positive law.^[9]
• 1755 – Folqman labels the word as a term of theology.^[18]
• 1789 – Morais records the algebraic, legal, theological and grammatical senses.^[12]
• 1800s – positivismo is first recorded.^[3]
• 1890 – first record of positivista.^[3]
• 1912 – Silva Bastos lists the electrical sense.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. affirmative, saying yes: Recebemos uma resposta positiva.^[2][13][1]
2. certain, beyond doubt; real, actual.^[2][4][19]
3. Based on facts and experience: ciência positiva.^[2][4][13]
4. practical, direct, matter-of-fact.^[2][4][20]
5. constructive; good, favourable: uma crítica positiva.^[2][4][21]
6. optimistic, confident.^[2][4][1]
7. (law) Laid down by will or enactment rather than arising from the nature of things: direito positivo.^[4][19][15]
8. (mathematics) Greater than zero.^[4][21][1]
9. (physics) Having a positive electric charge; of a pole, at the higher potential.^[20][1]
10. (medicine) Of a test, showing the presence of what was looked for.^[13]
11. (grammar) Of the degree of an adjective, expressing the quality simply, neither comparative nor superlative.^[4][1]
12. (photography) Of an image, with lights and shadows as in the subject.^[21][15]

Noun

1. What is certain, real or useful.^[19][15]
2. (music) A positive organ, or the part of an organ with the flute stops.^[2][15]
3. The positive pole of an electric circuit.^[2]
4. (north-eastern Brazil) A messenger, a person sent to carry news or objects.^[16][15]

Adverb

1. (formal) yes.^[1]

Word family

• positivar
• positivismo
• positivista
• positivamente
• positividade

Related words

• positivação
• pósitron
• positrônio
• pôr
• posição
• Latin positīvus
• Spanish positivo

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. positivo
3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. positivo
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. positivo
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. positivo
6. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda (1975), Novo dicionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, p. 1144
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. positīuus
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. positivus
9. ^ a b c d Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. positivo
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. positif
11. ^ 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. positivo
12. ^ a b c d 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, 222
13. ^ a b c d e 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. positivo
14. ^ a b Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. positivo
15. ^ a b c d e f g 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. positivo
16. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. positivo
17. ^ 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. positivo
18. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. positivo
19. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. positivo
20. ^ a b 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. positivo
21. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7367