quente

Forms

quente m or f (plural quentes, diminutive quentinho)^[1] The 13th-century form is caente;^[2][3][4] queente and quente appear from the 14th century, with the spellings queete and quete.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin calēns (“hot, glowing”), the present participle of caleō (“to be warm”), first written Old Galician-Portuguese caente.^[2][3][1][5] The intervocalic /l/ was lost, and the word passed through that form and Old Galician-Portuguese queente to the present form.^[6][7][4]

The same Latin participle is Galician quente, Spanish caliente, Asturian caliente, Aragonese calién and Catalan calent.^[1] Corominas notes that it replaced Latin calidus as the word for “hot” in all three Ibero-Romance languages, and compares caldo, from the older adjective.^[8]

The Latin verb goes back to *kalēō; de Vaan reconstructs a stative verb *ḱlh₁-éh₁- (“to be hot”), cognate with clyd and šiltas (“warm”).^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The form caente is recorded in the Cantigas de Santa Maria of the 13th century and is still used in the 14th.^[4] The 15th-century Vida de Santo Elói already writes quente.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712–1728) defines the word as that which shares in heat, “the most active of the four first qualities”.^[11] Morais (1813) records hot lands and climates, comeres quentes for oily or spirited foods, and the figurative andar o negocio quente, of a matter pursued with zeal.^[12] Figurative senses followed: “spicy”, “warm, cordial”, “heated, violent”, “passionate, sensual” and, of colours, “warm” (on the red–yellow side).^[2][13] Brazilian informal speech uses it for “tipsy” and for a lively party or a frisky girl.^[2][14] In physics it is used informally of highly radioactive material.^[2] As a noun, o quente is a warm place, especially one's bed.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 13th century – caentes in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[2][4]
• 14th century – the forms queente and quente.^[3][4]
• 1491 – quente in the Vida de Santo Elói.^[10]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau gives Latin calidus as its equivalent.^[11]
• 1813 – Morais records terras quentes and comeres quentes.^[12]
• 20th century – first record of quentão, hot spiced sugar-cane spirit.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. hot, warm; having or giving off heat: uma tarde muito quente.^[2][7][1]
2. Heated, warmed on the fire.^[2]
3. Of clothes or bedding, keeping one warm.^[2][13]
4. Of food, spicy, peppery.^[2][13]
5. (figurative) Warm, cordial; lively, animated.^[2][13]
6. (figurative) Heated, violent; intense.^[2]
7. (figurative) Passionate, sensual.^[2][15]
8. Of a colour, warm, in the range from red to yellow.^[2][13]
9. (Brazil, informal) tipsy, drunk.^[2][14]

Noun

1. A warm, comfortable place, especially the bed: estar no quente.^[2][14]

Word family

• aquentar
• esquentar
• esquentado
• esquentamento
• quentão
• quentura
• requentar

Related words

• caldo
• calor
• Latin calēns
• Spanish caliente

Usage notes

In Portugal the phrase ter as costas quentes means to have powerful protection.^[13]

Navarro notes that, contrary to a well-known story, people in Bahia do not ask for their acarajé quente when they want plenty of pepper: whoever does so is from outside the state.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. quente
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. quente
4. ^ a b c d e f 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. quente
5. ^ a b 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. quente
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. quente
7. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. quente
8. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 764
9. ^ 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. caleo
10. ^ a b Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. quente
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. quente
12. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 540
13. ^ a b c d e f Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7654
14. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. quente
15. ^ 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. quente
16. ^ Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. quente