pretensão

Forms

pretensão f (plural pretensões)^[1] Older spellings are pretenção, recorded in 1720, and pertensão, recorded in 1858.^[2] A private letter of about 1601 already writes pertencão.^[3]

Etymology

For Houaiss it is borrowed from Medieval Latin praetensio (“claim”), a form used beside praetentio and built on a variant supine of praetendō (“to stretch out in front”).^[2] Cunha instead derives it from French prétention, itself formed on the Medieval Latin noun, and Porto Editora also gives the French word as the source.^[4][5] The DLP and Aurélio start from the participle praetensus with the noun suffix -ão.^[6][7]

In Medieval Latin the form in -tio meant a legal right or claim, which Du Cange renders with the French noun, quoting a charter of 1101, and also a challenge or contestation.^[8][9] The Latin verb is formed from prae- (“before”) and tendō (“to stretch”).^[10][1] Its Spanish counterpart, Spanish pretensión, is a derivative of the verb pretender, according to the DLE.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cunha dates the word to the 16th century, and Houaiss gives a first date of 1619.^[4][2] Barbosa's dictionary of 1611 translates pretensão with Latin contentio and ambitio, the striving for office and honours, and quotes Cicero's contentio honorum.^[12]

Semantic evolution

Morais (1789) defines the word as a request for what is owed or for a favour, and records ter pretensões sobre alguma coisa “to believe one has a right to something”.^[13] In the 19th century the word also meant an unfounded claim to talent or honours, which led to the sense of vanity and presumption: the original Caldas Aulete quotes Garrett and Herculano for pretensões.^[14] Modern dictionaries keep the claim to a right as the main sense and add the legal claim brought before a court.^[2][7] The plural pretensões is used for boasting and for ambitions unlikely to be fulfilled.^[2][15]

Timeline

• 16th century – first record of the word, according to Cunha.^[4]
• c. 1601 – a private letter writes pertencão.^[3]
• 1611 – Barbosa's dictionary lists pretensão with Latin contentio and ambitio.^[12]
• 1619 – Houaiss's first date for the word.^[2]
• 1720 – the spelling pretenção is recorded.^[2]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as a request for what is owed and records ter pretensões.^[13]
• 1858 – the variant pertensão is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A claim to a right, real or supposed, made by a person or a nation: O país mantém a sua pretensão sobre as ilhas.^[2][7][1]
2. Something requested or demanded; a demand.^[2][5]
3. A desire or aspiration that drives someone: Não tenho grandes pretensões nesta carreira.^[2][7]
4. An excessive or misplaced ambition.^[2][5]
5. vanity, an inflated opinion of oneself; presumption.^[2][7][14]
6. (law) A claim that is the object of a lawsuit.^[2][7][15]
7. (in the plural) Ambitions with little chance of success; boasting.^[2][15]
8. A pretext.^[1]

Word family

• despretensioso
• pretensioso

Related words

• pretender
• pretenso
• French prétention
• Spanish pretensión

Usage notes

The TLPGP records pretensão in a Portuguese survey of 1960 in the sense “shame”.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. pretensão
3. ^ 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. pretensão
4. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. pretensão
5. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7461
6. ^ 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. pretensão
7. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. pretensão
8. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. s.v. praetentio
9. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. praetentio
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. praetendō
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. pretensión
12. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pretensão
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, 241
14. ^ 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. pretensão
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. pretensão
16. ^ 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. pretensão