preciso

Forms

preciso (feminine precisa, masculine plural precisos, feminine plural precisas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin praecīsus (“cut off at the end; shortened, concise”), a learned word first recorded in the 16th century.^[2][3][4] The Latin word is the past participle of praecīdō (“to cut off in front, shorten”), formed from prae- and caedō (“to cut, strike”).^[5][6][1] Wiktionary traces the verb to Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd- (“to strike”).^[1]

Nascentes explains the sense “necessary”: from “cut off” came the idea of something lacking, which in turn led to the idea of need.^[4][7] The same Latin word was borrowed as Spanish preciso, first recorded in 1574, Italian preciso and French précis, recorded since 1377.^[8][9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cunha dates the adjective to the 16th century with the senses “necessary” and “exact”.^[3] Houaiss's first date, 1682, is for “necessary, indispensable”, and a private letter of 1633 already writes presizas.^[2][11]

Semantic evolution

In the older language “necessary” was the main sense: Bluteau defines preciso as “absolutely necessary” and gives as cousas precisas para a vida “the things needed for life”.^[12] Houaiss dates “exact, done with rigour” to 1720.^[2] Morais (1789) lists “necessary, unavoidable”, then “certain, fixed” (a time), “admitting no delay or interpretation” (orders) and “abstract”, and o preciso da história “the essentials of history”.^[13] Today the dictionaries also have “accurate” of a mechanism or a shot, “clear, categorical” of language and “concise” of style.^[2][14][15]

precisar “to need”, recorded in 1813, is derived from it.^[3]

Timeline

• 16th century – first record, in Cunha.^[3]
• 1633 – presizas in a private letter.^[11]
• 1682 – Houaiss's date for the sense “necessary”.^[2]
• 1712 – Bluteau defines preciso as “absolutely necessary”.^[12]
• 1720 – the sense “exact, rigorous”.^[2]
• 1789 – Morais adds “certain, fixed” and “admitting no delay”.^[13]
• 1813 – first record of the derived verb precisar.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. necessary, indispensable; often impersonal, é preciso “it is necessary”: É preciso sair já.^[2][16][1]
2. precise, exact, definite: uma medida precisa.^[2][17][1]
3. Rigorous, accurate in what it does: of an instrument or mechanism.^[2][6]
4. Hitting the target exactly: um remate preciso.^[2][18][1]
5. Clear, categorical, leaving no room for doubt: instruções precisas.^[2][14]
6. concise, laconic: of style.^[2][14]

Word family

• precisão
• precisar
• precisamente
• impreciso
• imprecisão

Related words

• Latin praecīsus
• Spanish preciso
• French précis

Usage notes

Michaelis also records o preciso as a noun, “what is necessary”, and regional surveys in Portugal recorded preciso as a noun meaning “need” (ter preciso de).^[18][19] The form preciso “I need” of the verb precisar belongs to that verb.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. preciso
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. preciso
4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. preciso
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ 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. preciso
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 413
8. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. preciso
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6709b
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. précis
11. ^ a b 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. preciso
12. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. preciso
13. ^ a b 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, 231
14. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. preciso
15. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7412
16. ^ 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. preciso
17. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. preciso
18. ^ 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. preciso
19. ^ 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. preciso