prudente

Forms

prudente m or f (plural prudentes, comparable, comparative mais prudente, superlative o mais prudente or prudentíssimo)^[1] Houaiss records the 15th-century spellings proudente and prudete, and a text of 1435 or 1436 has prudemtes.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin prūdēns (“foreseeing, aware, wise”), a learned word, first recorded in the 14th century.^[2][4][1] The Latin adjective is a contraction of prōvidēns (“foreseeing”), the present participle of prōvideō (“to see beforehand, provide for”).^[2][5][6] De Vaan explains the contraction as a regular sound change.^[7]

The same Latin word was borrowed as Galician prudente, Spanish prudente, Catalan prudent, French prudent and Italian prudente.^[1][8] The Spanish word is first recorded in Berceo, and Corominas takes its rarity there as a sign that it was still a learned word.^[9] French borrowed it in 1090.^[10]

videō (“to see”) goes back to Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see, know”).^[1] De Vaan reconstructs a stative *uid-eh₁- “to see”, and its cognates include the Celtic verbs for “to know”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to the 14th century from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese.^[2] Lorenzo's chronology quotes o prudente homem “the prudent man” from the chronicle of King Pedro, and a text of 1435 or 1436 says como prudemtes os guardarão “they will guard them as prudent men”.^[3] The sense is already that of today: wise and careful in conduct.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

In Latin the adjective meant first “aware of what one is doing, acting deliberately” and only rarely “foreseeing”, the sense of its source.^[5][6] Portuguese took it in the sense “wise, cautious”.^[2] Bluteau (1712–1728) describes the prudent man as one who acts with circumspection, caution and precaution, and Morais (1789) applies the word also to acts and decisions made with prudence.^[11][12]

Modern dictionaries separate the cautious sense from that of moderation and good judgement.^[13][14] The DLP records a popular use in Portugal for a person who is cowardly or easily frightened, and Michaelis gives the same sense as slang.^[15][16] The adjective is also a noun, “a prudent person”, and Prudente is a surname and a given name.^[15][1]

Timeline

• 14th century – first record of the word.^[2]
• c. 1430 – prudente in the Horto do Esposo (witness of 1390–1437).^[17]
• 1435 or 1436 – como prudemtes os guardarão.^[3]
• 15th century – the spellings proudente and prudete.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary glosses prudente with Latin prudens.^[18]
• 1572 – first record of the negative imprudente.^[19]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines the prudent man as one who acts with caution and precaution.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais extends the word to things done with prudence.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. prudent, cautious: avoiding danger and risk; sensible: Foi prudente e não investiu tudo de uma vez.^[2][13][1]
2. provident: preparing in advance for what may happen; precavido.^[2][13]
3. Moderate, restrained, discreet in speech and conduct.^[13][14][15]
4. Showing good judgement; judicious, sensato.^[20][14]
5. (Portugal, popular, Brazil, slang) Cowardly, fearful.^[15][16]

Noun

1. A prudent, sensible or cautious person.^[15]

Word family

• prudentemente
• imprudente

Related words

• prudência
• providente
• prever
• Latin prūdēns
• Spanish prudente

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. prudente
3. ^ a b c d 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. prudente
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. prudente
5. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. prūdens
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. prūdens
7. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. videō
8. ^ 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. prudente
9. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 665
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. prudent
11. ^ 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. prudente
12. ^ 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, 261
13. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. prudente
14. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. prudente
15. ^ a b c d e 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. prudente
16. ^ 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. prudente
17. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. prudente
18. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. prudente
19. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. prudência
20. ^ 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. prudente