pranto

Forms

pranto m (plural prantos)^[1] Old forms are pranto, planto and plãto in the 14th century and plancto in the 15th.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin planctus (“a beating of the breast; lamentation”), Old Galician-Portuguese pranto and Old Galician-Portuguese planto in the old language.^[2][3][4][1] Nascentes explains it as a semi-learned form and gives the archaic Old Galician-Portuguese chanto beside it.^[4][5] Wiktionary calls it an early borrowing that displaced the older word.^[1]

The same Latin word is Italian pianto, Sardinian prantu, Old French plaint, Old Occitan planh, Catalan plant and Spanish llanto, with the older Old Spanish planto.^[5][6] In Galician the word is pranto, with chanto as an old word.^[7][8]

The Latin noun is formed from plangō (“to beat, strike; to mourn”).^[9][1] De Vaan traces that verb to Proto-Indo-European *plh₂-n-g- (“to hit”), with Ancient Greek πλάζω (plázō) among its cognates.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date pranto and planto to the 14th century, in the sense “weeping, tears”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712) defines it as tears with cries and moans, and notes that the Latin word properly meant the beating of the breast.^[11] In the chronicles it is public mourning: Garcia de Resende tells of great prantos held throughout the kingdom at a king's death, with everyone dressed in coarse mourning cloth.^[12] In literary history pranto names the old elegiac poem lamenting a dead person.^[2][13] In the Alentejo it is the public grief shown at a funeral, and in Portugal it is recorded as a funeral lament.^[13][14] In Brazil it can mean a song or serenade.^[13][15]

Timeline

• 14th century – pranto, planto and plãto.^[2][3]
• 15th century – the learned spelling plancto.^[2]
• 1491 – pranto in the Vida de Santo Elói.^[16]
• 16th century – first records of prantear and pranteado.^[3]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders it with Latin lamentum.^[17]
• 1712 – Bluteau quotes the proverb nem boda sem canto, nem morte sem pranto.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. weeping, tears: o pranto da viúva.^[2][18][1]
2. lamentation, complaint.^[2][18]
3. (literature) An old elegiac poem lamenting the death of a loved or famous person.^[2][18][13]
4. (Alentejo) Mourning shown in public during a funeral.^[13]
5. (Brazil) A song, a serenade.^[13][15]

Word family

• pranteado
• prantear

Related words

• Latin planctus
• Galician pranto
• Spanish llanto

Usage notes

Debulhar-se em pranto means to cry bitterly.^[18][15] Bluteau records the proverb nem boda sem canto, nem morte sem pranto “no wedding without song, no death without weeping”.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. pranto
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. pranto
4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. pranto
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6570
6. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 724
7. ^ Estraviz, Isaac Alonso, Dicionário Estraviz, https://estraviz.org, p. s.v. pranto
8. ^ Estraviz, Isaac Alonso, Dicionário Estraviz, https://estraviz.org, p. s.v. chanto
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. planctus
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pranto
12. ^ 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, 882
13. ^ a b c d e f 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. pranto
14. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. pranto
15. ^ 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. pranto
16. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. pranto
17. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pranto
18. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. pranto