pressão

Forms

pressão f (plural pressões)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin pressio (“pressure”), from premō (“to press”), whose supine is pressum.^[2][1][3] Nascentes calls it semi-learned.^[4] The Latin word was rare: Lewis & Short find it only in Vitruvius and Caesar, for pressure and for the fulcrum of a lever.^[5][3]

The same Latin word was borrowed as Spanish presión, first recorded in 1737, and as French pression.^[6][1] The inherited words of the Latin verb in Portuguese are premer and pressa.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first date is Morais's dictionary of 1789, which defines the word as the weight of a heavy body on what it rests on, with the example of the pressure of liquids on the bottom and sides of a vessel.^[2][9] Morais's 1813 edition marks it as a modern term adopted in physics.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Vieira (1871–1874) still treats the word as a term of physics, with pressão atmosférica, and of medicine.^[11] The old Aulete adds the figurative sense “influence, coercion”, as in pressure on voters, and the Brazilian sense of a snap fastener.^[12] Modern dictionaries add the physical definition of force per unit of area and blood pressure, with pressão alta “high blood pressure”.^[2][13]

Timeline

• 1789 – Morais's dictionary enters pressão in its physical sense.^[9][2]
• 1813 – Morais's second edition marks it as a modern term adopted in physics.^[10]
• 1822 – prezão in a private letter, the earliest in Post Scriptum.^[14]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira records pressão atmosférica and a medical sense.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of pressing or squeezing: Fecha a tampa com uma leve pressão.^[2][13][1]
2. (physics) pressure: the force exerted by a body or a fluid on a surface, measured as force per unit of area.^[2][13]
3. (figurative) Influence that coerces someone; constraint.^[2][13][1]
4. (Brazil) A snap fastener.^[2][13]
5. (physiology) blood pressure: pressão alta.^[2][12]

Word family

• pressionar

Related words

• premer
• pressa
• Latin pressio
• Spanish presión

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. pressão
3. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. pressio
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. pressão
5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. pressio
6. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. presión
7. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. premer
8. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. pressa
9. ^ 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, 240
10. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 497
11. ^ a b 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, 923
12. ^ a b 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. pressão
13. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. pressão
14. ^ 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. pressão