promíscuo

Forms

promíscuo (feminine promíscua, masculine plural promíscuos, feminine plural promíscuas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin prōmiscuus (“shared, common; mixed, indiscriminate”).^[2][3][1] Nascentes calls it a learned word, from the Latin sense “used in common”.^[4] The Latin adjective is formed from prō-, misceō (“to mix”) and the suffix -uus;^[5][1] Tacitus and Gellius have the shorter form prōmiscus.^[5][1] The verb goes back to *mi(k)skō, an inchoative present of Proto-Indo-European *meyǵ- (“to mix”).^[1][6]

The same Latin word was borrowed as Galician promiscuo, Spanish promiscuo, Catalan promiscu, French promiscu and Italian promiscuo.^[1][7]

Semantic evolution

Houaiss dates the word to 1671, and Cunha to the 17th century.^[2][3] Bluteau glosses it as “confused, without order, without distinction”, with Livy's promiscua connubia for marriages made without distinction between noble and common families.^[8] Feijó (1734) insists on the spelling promîscuo against promixcuo.^[9] Morais (1813) adds grammar's nome promíscuo, a noun used for both the male and the female of a species, which Vieira also records; modern dictionaries mark it obsolete and use epiceno instead.^{[10][11][12][13]}

From the mixing of what should be kept apart the word came to imply moral disorder, and in Brazil it is used of a person who has many sexual partners.^[2][14][12]

Timeline

• 1671 – first record.^[2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines promîscuo as confused and without distinction.^[8]
• 1734 – Feijó prescribes the spelling promîscuo.^[9]
• 1813 – first record of the derivative promiscuidade;^[10] Morais records nome promíscuo.^[3][10]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira gives the sense “without distinction” and the grammatical term.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Made up of different elements thrown together without order or distinction; mixed, confused.^[2][12][15]
2. Mixed with or marked by conduct regarded as reprehensible or immoral.^[2][14][16]
3. (chiefly Brazil) Having many sexual partners; promiscuous.^[12][14][1]
4. (grammar, obsolete) Epicene.^[12][15][13]

Word family

• promiscuidade
• promiscuamente

Related words

• misturar
• Latin prōmiscuus
• Spanish promiscuo

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. promíscuo
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. promíscuo
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. promíscuo
5. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ 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. promiscuo
8. ^ 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. promîscuo
9. ^ a b Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. promíscuo
10. ^ a b c Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 513
11. ^ a b 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, 971
12. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. promíscuo
13. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7517
14. ^ a b c 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. promíscuo
15. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. promíscuo
16. ^ 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. promíscuo