purgativo

Forms

purgativo (feminine purgativa, masculine plural purgativos, feminine plural purgativas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin pūrgātīvus (“purgative”).^[2][1][3] Nascentes calls it a learned word.^[4] Lewis and Short mark the Latin word as post-classical and medical, used by Caelius Aurelianus of purgative medicines.^[5] It is formed from pūrgō (“to clean, purge”) with the suffix -īvus.^[1] The OLD analyses the verb as pūrus (“clean, pure”) with a suffix -igō, from the older pūrigō of Plautus;^[6][1] Wiktionary calls the origin disputed and reports de Vaan's view of a compound of a Proto-Italic word for “fire” and agō (“to do, drive”).^[6][1] Wiktionary adds that the Portuguese word can also be analysed as purgar with the suffix -tivo.^[1]

The same Latin word gave Galician purgativo, Spanish purgativo, Catalan purgatiu, Occitan purgatiu, French purgatif and Italian purgativo;^[1][7] French has it from about 1325.^[1][7][8][9]

Semantic evolution

Houaiss dates the word to the 15th century, Cunha to the 17th.^[2][3] Its use was first medical: Bluteau defines it as having the power to purge, and divides purgatives by the four humours they were thought to expel, while Folqman glosses it with Latin catharticus.^[10][11] Morais speaks of remédios purgativos, and Vieira also notes a figurative use in the language of asceticism, via purgativa, a state of the soul ruled by fear of hell.^[12][13] The old Caldas Aulete records the sense “purifying” and the noun “a purgative remedy”.^[14]

In the modern language the adjective means purging or laxative, and also purifying or expiatory; as a noun it is a purgante or laxative.^{[2][15][16][17]} In southern Brazil it is said of any product with the effect of a purgative.^[18]

Timeline

• 15th century – first record.^[2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau describes the purgativos of the four humours.^[10]
• 1755 – Folqman glosses it with Latin catharticus.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as having the power to purge.^[12]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira records the ascetic via purgativa.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That purges, cleans or purifies; expiatory.^[2][16][19]
2. (pharmacology) That stimulates the bowels; laxative, purgante.^[2][15][16]

Noun

1. (pharmacology) A purgative or laxative medicine; a purga.^[15][17][1]

Related words

• purgar
• purgante
• purga
• purgatório
• puro
• Latin pūrgātīvus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. purgativo
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. purê
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. purgativo
5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Estraviz, Isaac Alonso, Dicionário Estraviz, https://estraviz.org, p. s.v. purgativo
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. purgativo
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. purgatif
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. purgatîvo
11. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. purgativo
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, 265
13. ^ 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, 1027
14. ^ 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. purgativo
15. ^ a b c 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. purgativo
16. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. purgativo
17. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. purgativo
18. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. purgativo
19. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7607