princesa

Forms

princesa f (plural princesas)^[1] Fifteenth-century texts spell it princesa and prinçesa.^[2] From the 17th century to the early 20th the usual spelling was princeza, the heading in Bluteau and Morais.^[3][4][5][1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French princesse, formed in French from prince (“prince”), which comes from Latin princeps (“first; chief, prince”).^[2][1][6] Houaiss dates the French word to 1308 and the noun to the early 12th century.^[2]

Nascentes and Aurélio think the French word came through Spanish princesa and an older Portuguese form Old Galician-Portuguese princessa, whose ending was then reshaped after duquesa, marquesa and baronesa.^[7][8] Nascentes adds that the Portuguese court, which used infante for the king's children, followed Spanish fashion closely.^[7][8] In his fuller dictionary he cites A. Coelho, who derived the word from Low Latin principissa through a form *principessa, later contracted, as in the comedy Eufrosina.^[9]

The Latin noun is the source of príncipe, the word for a prince in Portuguese.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's earliest records are of the 15th century.^[2] The CTA corpus has it first in the Portuguese Espelho de Cristina, in a witness of 1518.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Pereira (1697) explains princesa as a female ruler or the queen's appointed heir, and Bluteau (1712–1728) as the daughter or wife of a prince, or a lady who holds a principality.^[12][3] Morais (1813) adds the figurative sense “the first in rank”, quoting the Lusíadas, where Lisbon is the princeza of the other cities.^[4]

Modern dictionaries add the heiress to a crown, a woman ruling a principality, a title above duchess in some countries, and the senses of a pretty, graceful girl, a spoilt one, or one who acts with disdain; in Brazil it is also the title of a girl chosen at a festival or carnival.^[2][13][14] In Afro-Brazilian religion princesa do Mar and princesa do Aiocá are names of Iemanjá.^[2] Papiamentu borrowed the word as prinsesa.^[1]

Timeline

• 15th century – first records, spelt princesa and prinçesa.^[2]
• 1518 – princesa in the Espelho de Cristina.^[11]
• 1572 – the spelling princesa.^[2]
• 1697 – Pereira lists princesa.^[12]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau heads the word princeza.^[3]
• 1813 – Morais gives the figurative sense “first in rank”.^[4]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira derives it from French princesse.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A princess: the wife of a prince.^[2][8][1]
2. A woman who rules a principality (principado).^[2][8]
3. The daughter of a king, emperor or prince; a female member of a reigning family.^[2][6]
4. In some monarchies, the king's eldest daughter and heir to the crown.^[13][16]
5. (figurative) The first or most excellent of a kind.^[8][17]
6. (informal) A pretty, graceful girl; also a term of endearment for a girl.^[2][1]
7. A spoilt girl whose every wish is granted;^[2] (ironic) a girl who behaves haughtily.^[2]
8. (Brazil) The title of a girl chosen among the prettiest at a carnival or harvest festival.^[2]

Related words

• príncipe
• princeso
• principado
• French princesse
• Spanish princesa

Usage notes

Princesa real is the title of the reigning monarch's eldest daughter.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. princesa
3. ^ 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. princeza
4. ^ a b c Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 503
5. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. princesa
6. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7475
7. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. princesa
8. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. princesa
9. ^ 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
10. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. príncipe
11. ^ a b Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. princesa
12. ^ a b Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. princesa
13. ^ 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. princesa
14. ^ 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. princesa
15. ^ 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, 940
16. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. princesa
17. ^ 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. princesa