quadro

Forms

quadro m (plural quadros)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin quadrum (“a square”), first recorded in 1612;^[2][3][1] Cunha dates it to the 17th century.^[2][3][1] Houaiss, Nascentes and Wiktionary give the Latin word as its source, and none of them calls it inherited.^[2][4][1]

The Latin noun comes from quadrus (“square”), from quattuor (“four”).^[1][2][5] The same Latin word is Spanish cuadro, Italian quadro and Galician cadro.^[1][6] In Spanish the word is recorded much earlier, from 968.^[7]

Nascentes explains the sense “painting” from the shape: a frame has four pieces, and pictures were generally square.^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record, of 1612, has the sense “square”.^[2] Bluteau's dictionary cites the military quadro de gente (a square formation of soldiers) from the Arte Militar of Vasconcelos, and also lists the word as a geometrical figure, a painted panel and a flower bed.^[8]

Semantic evolution

From “square” the word passed to a square area (1635) and to a frame; by 1720 it meant the painting mounted on such a frame.^[2] Bluteau has quadro de flores “flower bed” and the architectural quadro baixo, the square member at the foot of a pedestal.^[8] Vieira gives the frame first and the painted panel second.^[9]

Figurative senses followed: an orderly list or table, a description or overview, a vivid scene.^[2][10] By 1912 it also meant the school blackboard, a subdivision of the acts of a play and the staff of a profession or office.^[10] Modern senses include the frame of a bicycle (Brazil), an electrical panel, the frames of film and television, a sports team (Brazil) and, in medicine, the picture of a disease (quadro clínico).^[2][1] It also came to mean a senior employee or manager.^[2]

Timeline

• 1612 – first record, in the sense “square”.^[2]
• 1635 – the sense “square area”.^[2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau gives the geometrical, military, garden and architectural senses and refers to paynel for the painting.^[8]
• 1720 – the sense “painting on a frame”.^[2]
• 1755 – Folqman translates it as Latin quadratum.^[11]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira defines the frame and the framed painting.^[9]
• 1912 – Silva Bastos lists the blackboard, the scene of a play and the staff of an office.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. Something square or four-sided; a square area.^[2][12][13]
2. A frame of wood or other material.^[2][1]
3. A painting or picture, usually framed.^[2][12][1]
4. A blackboard or whiteboard: quadro-negro, quadro de giz.^[2][13][1]
5. An electrical panel: quadro de luz.^[2][1]
6. (Brazil) The frame of a bicycle or motorcycle.^[2][1]
7. (figurative) An orderly account of facts; an overview, list or description.^[2][1]
8. The staff or list of members of a body, company or department; a senior employee or manager.^[2][14]
9. A table, chart or boxed panel in a printed text.^[2][15]
10. (theatre) A subdivision of an act, marked by a change of scenery;^[2][1] (television) a segment of a programme.^[2][1]
11. (film, television) A single frame of a moving image.^[2][1]
12. (medicine) The picture of a disease from its signs and symptoms: quadro clínico.^[2]
13. (Brazil, sports) A team.^[2]

Word family

• quadrinho
• quadro-negro
• enquadrar

Related words

• quadra
• quadrado
• quatro
• Latin quadrum
• Galician cadro
• Spanish cuadro

Usage notes

In Pernambuco quadro was a tenement built round a square; in Ceará a square plot of land.^[2][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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 w x y z 27 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. quadro
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. quadro
4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. quadro
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. quadrum
6. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 425
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 255
8. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. quadro
9. ^ 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. 5, 9
10. ^ a b c Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. quadro
11. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. quadro
12. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. quadro
13. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. quadro
14. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7626
15. ^ 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. quadro
16. ^ Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. quadro