puto

Forms

puto m (plural putos)^[1]

Etymology

In Houaiss's account it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *puttus, the popular form of Latin pūtus (“little boy”), a familiar synonym of puer (“boy, child”).^[2][3][4] Wiktionary, the DLP, Priberam and Porto Editora give the classical word directly.^[1][5][6][7] The noun, the adjective and the pronoun have one origin, and Houaiss explains the senses other than “boy” by the influence of puta.^[2] The REW describes the same process across Romance: after puttana spread, the Old Italian, Spanish and Portuguese word for “girl” came to mean “whore”, and the Spanish and Portuguese masculine then “catamite”.^[8] Michaelis, the original Caldas Aulete and DELPo simply call it the masculine of that word.^[9][10][11]

The Romance forms of the Latin word include Italian putto (“boy”), Spanish puto and Galician puto, and the REW also traces French putain and Old Occitan puta to it.^[1][8] The REW adds that the relation between the Latin word and the Romance base with ⟨tt⟩ still needs explaining; de Vaan sees in the double consonant the gemination typical of expressive words.^[8][12]

The Latin noun is known only from a conjecture in the Catalepton, a collection attributed to Virgil, though its diminutive putillus is in Plautus.^[12][1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *puto- (“boy”) and compares Oscan puklum (“son”), from Proto-Indo-European *put-lo- (“son”).^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

In a cantiga d'escarnho Pero da Ponte says he goes about mocking daquestes putos “these catamites”, and Lapa's glossary explains the word as “pederast”.^[13][14][15] Houaiss dates the word to the 13th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The old dictionaries know only this sense: Cardoso (1569), Barbosa (1611) and Pereira (1697) render puto by Latin cinaedus, and Bluteau (1712) defines it as the active or passive partner in the “nefarious sin”.^{[16][17][18][19]} Morais (1789) and Vieira (1873) define it as a youth who prostitutes himself to sodomites.^[20][21]

The original Latin sense survives in informal European Portuguese, where puto is a boy, a kid or someone's son.^[2][7][1] Porto Editora also records a cheeky youngster and, in student slang, a third-year university student.^[2][7][1] In Brazil the word kept its offensive senses (a homosexual, a libertine, a rogue) and became an adjective, “furious”, with the phrases puto da vida and ficar puto.^[2][22] Brazilian um puto is also a coin of no value, and um puto de an intensifier before a noun.^[2][4] In Portugal puto is used as a pronoun meaning “nothing”: não percebi puto.^[6][5]

Timeline

• 13th century – first record, in a cantiga d'escarnho of Pero da Ponte, meaning “catamite”.^[2][13]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses it with Latin cinaedus.^[16]
• 1611 – Barbosa gives the same Latin equivalent.^[17]
• 1712 – Bluteau's definition.^[19]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as a youth who prostitutes himself.^[20]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Portugal, informal) A boy, a kid; someone's son: Os putos estão a jogar à bola na rua.^[2][1][6]
2. (Portugal, informal) A cheeky young man who thinks himself clever.^[7][5]
3. (offensive) A homosexual man.^[2][22]
4. (vulgar) A libertine, a lecherous man; a male prostitute.^[2][1]
5. (Brazil, vulgar, derogatory) A rogue, a person of bad character.^[2][1]
6. (vulgar, informal) A coin of the lowest value: Fiquei sem um puto.^[2][1]

Adjective

1. (informal or vulgar) Very angry, furious: ficar puto, puto da vida.^[2][1][22]
2. (vulgar) Corrupt, dissolute.^[9][5]
3. (informal or vulgar) Before a noun, with or without de: an intensifier of praise or blame, like English “damn”.^[2][4]

Pronoun

1. (Portugal, informal) nothing: Não entendi puto do que ele disse.^[6][1][7]

Related words

• puta
• Latin pūtus
• Italian putto

Usage notes

Aurélio records a separate Angolan noun puto, from Kimbundu, for an unusual or difficult Portuguese word.^[4] The original Caldas Aulete has another puto in Mozambique, a beer brewed from fermented maize.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. puto
3. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. puto
4. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. puto
5. ^ a b c d 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. puto
6. ^ a b c d Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. puto
7. ^ a b c d e Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7612
8. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. putus
9. ^ 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. puto
10. ^ 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. puto
11. ^ NEHiLP – Núcleo de Apoio à Pesquisa em Etimologia e História da Língua Portuguesa, Universidade de São Paulo, DELPo: Dicionário Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa (online database), p. s.v. puto
12. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b 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. puto
14. ^ Lopes, Graça Videira; Ferreira, Manuel Pedro et al. (2011–), Cantigas Medievais Galego-Portuguesas [online database], Lisboa: Instituto de Estudos Medievais, FCSH/NOVA, https://cantigas.fcsh.unl.pt, p. s.v. puto
15. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. puto
16. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. puto
17. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. puto
18. ^ Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. puto
19. ^ 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. puto
20. ^ 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, 266
21. ^ 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, 1031
22. ^ a b c Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. puto