profuso

Forms

profuso (feminine profusa, masculine plural profusos, feminine plural profusas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin profūsus (“poured out in abundance; lavish”), the past participle of profundō (“to pour out, pour forth”).^[2][3][1] Nascentes calls it a learned word, and Bluteau already wrote that it was taken from the Latin.^[4][5] The Latin verb is formed from prō- (“forth”) and fundō (“to pour”).^[1][6] The adjective already meant “extravagant, prodigal in spending” in Latin.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is from before 1569, and Cunha dates the word to the 16th century.^[2][3] Bluteau's dictionary gives it two senses, “prodigal, excessively liberal” and “very copious”, the second with a quotation from Curvo's medical observations on profusissimas evacuações naturaes “most profuse natural evacuations”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The two senses of Bluteau, lavish spending and abundance, are those of Morais (1789) and Vieira (1871–1874), and they remain the main senses today.^[5][7][8][2] The original Caldas Aulete added “diffuse”, which the modern dictionaries record as “prolix, wordy”.^[9][10][11] The adjective is often used of bodily fluids in medicine, of sweat or bleeding.^[2][9]

Timeline

• before 1569 – first record, according to Houaiss.^[2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau notes it as taken from Latin and gives both senses.^[5]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as spending and giving with profusion, and as very copious.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Spending or giving with profusão; lavish, prodigal, wasteful.^[2][12][13]
2. Produced or present in great quantity; copious, abundant, exuberant: A febre veio com suores profusos.^{[2][10][14][1]}
3. Using many words; prolix (prolixo), diffuse.^[2][11][13]

Related words

• profusão
• Latin profūsus

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. profuso
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. profuso
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. profuso
5. ^ a b c d Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. profuso
6. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ 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, 250
8. ^ 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, 963
9. ^ 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. profuso
10. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. profuso
11. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7504
12. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. profuso
13. ^ a b 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. profuso
14. ^ 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. profuso