pronto

Forms

pronto (feminine pronta, masculine plural prontos, feminine plural prontas, comparable, comparative mais pronto, superlative o mais pronto or prontíssimo, diminutive prontinho, augmentative prontão)^[1] Houaiss and Cunha record pronto and the feminine pronpta in the 15th century; a letter of 1554 has ponpta.^[2][3][4] The etymological spelling prompto was long usual: Morais (1789) refers pronto to it.^[5][6]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin prōmptus (“brought out; at hand, ready, quick”), a learned word recorded from the 15th century.^[2][3][1][7] The Latin adjective is the past participle of prōmō (“to take out, bring forth”), formed of prō- and emō (“to take”).^[2][1][8][9] Nascentes explains the sense “ready” from “brought out”, as a thing is brought out when it is finished.^[10]

The same Latin word is Galician pronto, Spanish pronto, recorded from 1490, Italian pronto and French prompt.^{[11][12][1][13]}

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to the 15th century, and the Vida de Santo Elói of 1491 has it.^[2][14] Cunha's first sense is “that does not delay, quick, immediate”, and Cardoso's dictionary of 1569 renders it with Latin promptus.^[3][15]

Semantic evolution

From “quick, at hand” the adjective came to mean “ready, finished” and “prepared, willing”, the senses Houaiss now puts first.^[2][3] The army uses it for a soldier who is available or has finished his training.^[16][17] In Brazilian slang pronto means “penniless”: Nascentes explains this from the exclamation pronto! with which a bohemian who drank in the bars without paying began his excuses.^[2][7] On the Cape Verdean island of Brava it means “nosy”.^[2]

As an interjection it closes a matter (“there, that's it”), answers a roll call, and in Brazil answers the telephone; in north-eastern Brazil it also means “all right”.^[2][1]

Timeline

• 15th century – pronto and the feminine pronpta.^[2][3]
• 1491 – pronto in the Vida de Santo Elói.^[14]
• 1554 – ponpta in a private letter.^[4]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders it with Latin promptus.^[15]
• 1651 – pronto in a private letter.^[4]
• 1789 – Morais heads the word prompto.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. ready, finished: O jantar está pronto.^[2][18][1]
2. Prepared, willing (to do something): Está sempre pronto a ajudar os vizinhos.^[2][18]
3. Quick, immediate: uma resposta pronta.^[2][18][1]
4. Quick-witted, sharp.^[2][16]
5. Dressed and ready to go out.^[2][17]
6. (military) Available, free of duty; fully trained.^[16][17][1]
7. (Brazil, informal) penniless, broke.^[2][1]
8. (Cape Verde, Brava) Over-curious, nosy.^[2]

Adverb

1. Soon, shortly.^[2]
2. (uncommon) promptly.^[17][1]

Interjection

1. There, that's it, done: Pronto, já está arrumado.^[2][17][1]
2. An answer to a roll call: present.^[2]
3. (Brazil) hello, on answering the telephone.^[2][1]
4. (north-eastern Brazil) All right, OK.^[1]

Noun

1. (military) A soldier who has finished basic training.^[16][17]

Word family

• aprontar
• prontidão
• prontificar

Related words

• Latin prōmptus
• Spanish pronto

Usage notes

De pronto means “at once, immediately”.^[2] In Portugal the interjection is also heard as prontos.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 v Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. pronto
3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. pronto
4. ^ a b c CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. pronto
5. ^ 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, 253
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. promptus
7. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. pronto
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. promptus
9. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 660
10. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. s.v. pronto
11. ^ Estraviz, Isaac Alonso, Dicionário Estraviz, https://estraviz.org, p. s.v. pronto
12. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. pronto
13. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. prompt
14. ^ a b Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. pronto
15. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pronto
16. ^ a b c d Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. pronto
17. ^ a b c d e f 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. pronto
18. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. pronto