prólogo

Forms

prólogo m (plural prólogos)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote prologo and once prolego;^[1] Houaiss records the 15th-century spellings prolago, prollego and prolloguo.^[2][3] Bluteau wrote prôlogo.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin prologus (“prologue of a play”), written Old Galician-Portuguese prologo in the oldest texts.^[3][5][1][2] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek πρόλογος (prólogos), formed from προ- (pro-, “before”) and λόγος (lógos, “speech”).^[1][6] Houaiss labels the Latin word Late Latin, but the OLD cites it from Terence on, for the introduction to a play that often summed up its plot.^[3][6] In Greek it was the part of a play before the entry of the chorus.^[7] Nascentes calls the Portuguese word a learned borrowing, and Bluteau hesitated between a purely Greek word and a hybrid of the Latin preposition prō and the Greek noun.^[8][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria head their opening poem “Este é o Prologo das Cantigas de Santa Maria” (“this is the prologue of the Cantigas de Santa Maria”), and a later rubric ends it with aqui sse acaba o prologo “here the prologue ends”.^[2] Lorenzo also records o prologo da estoria in the Galician Estoria and prolego in the Oficios.^[2] The sense is the introduction of a book.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The early dictionaries gloss it with Latin prologus and praefatio.^[9][10] Bluteau explains the theatrical sense: in the Roman theatre the prologue was what was spoken to the audience before the comedy or tragedy.^[4] Morais (1813) defines it as the speech made before the performance of a play, names the comedies Eufrosina and Ulissipo and the plays of Sá de Miranda as having one, and records the figurative “prologue” of sermons and the sense “preamble”.^[11] The old Caldas Aulete also uses it for the character who speaks the prologue.^[12]

Modern dictionaries add the opening scene of a novel or film, set before the main action, an introduction to an opera, and the beginning of any event.^[3][13][14] In artillery, Aurélio records it as the rope that links the gun carriage to the limber.^[15]

Timeline

• 13th century – Este é o Prologo das Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[2][3][5]
• 15th century – the spellings prolago, prollego and prolloguo.^[3]
• 1513 – prologo in the Livro dos Mártires.^[16]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary glosses prologo as Latin prologus.^[9]
• 1611 – Barbosa adds praefatio.^[10]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau discusses the origin of prôlogo and its use in the Roman theatre.^[4]
• 1734 – Feijó defines it as the beginning of a speech, sermon or book.^[17]
• 1813 – Morais gives the theatrical and figurative senses.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A preface: a short introductory text before a written work.^[15][14][18]
2. (theatre) In ancient Greek tragedy, the first part, in dialogue or monologue, which set out the subject of the play.^[3][15]
3. (theatre) The opening scene or monologue of a play, novel or film, which gives events or facts that come before the main action.^[3][13][14]
4. (theatre) The character who comes on first and speaks the prologue.^[3][12]
5. (music) An introduction to some operas, usually outside the plot.^[3][19]
6. (figurative) The opening part of an event.^[14]
7. (artillery) A rope linking the gun carriage to the limber.^[15]

Related words

• epílogo
• Latin prologus
• Ancient Greek πρόλογος (prólogos)

Usage notes

Its opposite is epílogo.^[12][14] The unaccented prologo is a form of the verb prologar.^[12][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. prologo
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. prólogo
4. ^ 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. prôlogo
5. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. prólogo
6. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. prólogo
9. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. prologo
10. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. prologo
11. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 512
12. ^ 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. prólogo
13. ^ 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. prólogo
14. ^ a b c d e Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. prólogo
15. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. prólogo
16. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. prologo
17. ^ 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. prólogo
18. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7515
19. ^ 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. prólogo