procurador

Forms

procurador m (plural procuradores, feminine procuradora, feminine plural procuradoras)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin prōcūrātor (“manager, agent, administrator”), which Nascentes takes into Portuguese by a semi-learned route.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin noun is an agent noun of prōcūrō (“to take care of, manage”) with the suffix -tor.^[5][1] Houaiss glosses the verb as "to look after other people's business with care, to administer".^[2]

The same Latin word gives Spanish procurador and Catalan procurador, while French procurateur is a learned borrowing of the 13th and 14th centuries.^[6][1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in Galician-Portuguese charters of the 13th century, always for a person acting on another's behalf: about 1253–1254 e procurador do abbade de Antealtares “and agent of the abbot of Antealtares”, then procurador do abade in 1262 and procurador en este pleyto “representative in this lawsuit” in 1272.^[8] Viterbo notes that in the 13th century the word was used of women as well as men.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Medieval notarial books use the word for anyone empowered to act in another's name.^[8] The early modern dictionaries add the offices of the law: Bluteau describes both the person holding a power of attorney and an officer of justice who conducts lawsuits, and Morais lists the agents of private business, of the courts, of the towns in the Cortes, of the Crown and of religious houses.^[10][11] In modern usage the word names above all the State's lawyer of the Public Prosecutor's office, as in procurador da República.^[2][12] An adjective “who seeks” goes with the verb procurar.^[2][13]

Timeline

• 1253–1254 – procurador do abbade de Antealtares in a Galician-Portuguese charter.^[8]
• 1262 – procurador do abade; in 1272 procurador en este pleyto.^[8]
• 1407 – a notarial book of Noia uses procurador for a person acting in another's name.^[8]
• After 1450 – the word appears in a witness of the Livro das tres vertudes.^[14]
• 1569 – Cardoso translates it by Latin causidicus.^[15]
• 1611 – Barbosa adds defensor, patronus, procurator and advocatus.^[16]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines the holder of a power of attorney and the officer of justice.^[10]
• 1789 – Morais lists the many kinds of procurador.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who holds a power of attorney (procuração) and manages another's affairs; an attorney-in-fact, proxy.^[2][13][1]
2. A mediator or intermediary between the parties to a contract or deal.^[2][13]
3. (law) A lawyer of the State, a member of the Public Prosecutor's office; a prosecutor: procurador da República.^[2][12][1]
4. (Portugal) A member of a legislative or deliberative assembly, chosen or elected.^[17]
5. (Ancient Rome) A procurator, the governor of a small imperial province.^[1]

Adjective

1. Who seeks something; inquisitive, fond of searching.^[2][13]

Word family

• procuradoria

Related words

• procurar
• procuração
• Latin prōcūrātor
• Spanish procurador

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. procurador
3. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. procurador
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. procurador
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. prōcūrātor
6. ^ 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. procurador
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. procurateur
8. ^ a b c d e 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. procurador
9. ^ Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 245
10. ^ 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. procurador
11. ^ 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, 248
12. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. procurador
13. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. procurador
14. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. procurador
15. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. procurador
16. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. procurador
17. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7491