primeiro

Forms

primeiro (feminine primeira, masculine plural primeiros, feminine plural primeiras)^[1] Houaiss records prymeyro in the 13th century, primeira in the 14th, and primera and premeiros in the 15th.^[2] Nascentes cites the archaic premeiro from Fernão de Oliveira's grammar;^[3][4] premeiro is still a dialect form in Portugal.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin prīmārius (“of the first rank, chief”), written Old Galician-Portuguese prymeyro in the 13th century.^[2][5][1] The Latin adjective is formed from prīmus (“first”) with the suffix -ārius.^[6][1] Houaiss notes that this word, not the old Latin ordinal, became the Portuguese numeral, while the old ordinal lived on in primo with other senses.^[2] The Wikcionário explains the ending by the movement of the /j/ of Latin ⟨-arium⟩ into the stressed syllable and the change of the resulting /ai/ to /ei/.^[7] Nascentes regards the word as refashioned on the old form premeiro.^[5]

The same Latin word is Galician primeiro, Spanish primero, Catalan primer and French premier; Italian primiero was taken from French.^[8][1] García de Diego adds the Galician and Portuguese dialect forms Galician promeiro and Galician pirmeiro.^[9] The learned primário and premiê, from French, are doublets of the same Latin word.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria already use the word as an adjective, as a noun and as an adverb: Esta é a primeira cantiga de loor de Santa Maria “This is the first song of praise of Holy Mary”, and andou primeiro França “first he went through France”.^[10] The Miragres de Santiago say of the apostle James the Less foy o primeiro bispo que ouve en Iherusalem “he was the first bishop there was in Jerusalem”.^[10] In a cantiga d'escarnho of Afonso X primeiro means “at first, before”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Houaiss dates both the numeral and the adverb “first, before anyone else” to the 13th century.^[2] Bluteau in 1712 distinguished first in number or order from first in rank, giving primeyro em dignidade with Latin princeps.^[11] Morais in 1789 added the sense “most eminent” and the construction primeiro de or primeiro que “before”.^[12]

Modern Portuguese has the senses “best” (de primeira qualidade), “essential” (de primeira necessidade), “elementary” (primeiras letras) and “firstborn”, and as a noun “the winner”.^[2][13][14] In informal Brazilian Portuguese de primeiro means “in the old days”.^[2] Schlee's dictionary of Rio Grande do Sul refers the word to the local form primero.^[15]

Timeline

• 13th century – prymeyro, Houaiss's first record of the word, from Cunha's slips of medieval Portuguese.^[2]
• 13th century, second half – the Cantigas de Santa Maria use the word as adjective, noun and adverb.^[10]
• c. 1400 – first in the CTA corpus, in a fragment of the Flos Sanctorum (witness 1380–1425).^[16]
• 15th century – the spellings primera and premeiros.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary renders primeiro by Latin primus.^[17]
• 1712 – Bluteau separates first in order from first in rank.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais adds “most eminent” and primeiro que “before”.^[12]

Meanings

Numeral

1. first, the ordinal of um: a primeira página.^[2][13][1]

Adjective

1. Earliest; coming before the others in time, place or order: os primeiros habitantes da ilha.^[2][13]
2. Best, foremost; of the highest quality or rank: de primeira qualidade.^[2][14]
3. Essential, fundamental: de primeira necessidade.^[2][14]
4. First made; original, primitive.^[2][18]
5. elementary, rudimentary: primeiras letras.^[2][13]
6. firstborn, eldest.^[2][19]

Noun

1. The first one in time, place or a list; the one mentioned first.^[2][1]
2. The winner, the champion.^[2]
3. The first day of the month.^[1]

Adverb

1. First, before anyone or anything else: Ela chegou primeiro.^[2][1]
2. Firstly, to begin with, introducing the first of several points.^[2][1]
3. primeiro que: before.^[2][19]
4. de primeiro (Brazil, informal): formerly, in the old days.^[2]

Word family

• primeiramente

Related words

• primo
• primário
• premiê
• Latin prīmārius
• Spanish primero

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. primeiro
3. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 416
4. ^ a b 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. primeiro
5. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. primeiro
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. prīmārius
7. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. primeiro
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6749
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. primarius
10. ^ a b c d 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. primeiro
11. ^ 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. primeiro
12. ^ 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, 244
13. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. primeiro
14. ^ 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. primeiro
15. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. primeiro
16. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. primeiro
17. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. primeiro
18. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. primeiro
19. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7470