redondo

Forms

redondo (feminine redonda, masculine plural redondos, feminine plural redondas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin retundus (“round”), the form all the Romance languages presuppose, beside classical rotundus (“wheel-shaped, round”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Wiktionary notes that this form is recorded from the 7th century.^[1] The change of the first vowel is explained as a dissimilation by Nunes and Menéndez Pidal, as Nascentes reports, and by Nascentes himself as the influence of the prefix re-.^[6][7][8] Latin charters write the word as Old Galician-Portuguese rodondo and Old Galician-Portuguese redondo in place names from the 10th century on.^[9][2]

The same word is Galician redondo, Spanish redondo, Catalan rodó, Occitan redond, French rond (earlier Old French reont), Italian rotondo and Romanian rătund.^[10][5][1] Corominas notes that even the Catalan and Italian forms were once Old Catalan redon and Old Italian ritondo.^[5] The learned rotundo is its doublet.^[1]

The Latin adjective is related to rota (“wheel”), and the OLD takes it to be originally a verbal adjective like secundus.^[11] Wiktionary reports de Vaan's suggestion that the ⟨e⟩ of a verb behind it was changed to ⟨o⟩ under the influence of the noun for “wheel”, so that the Vulgar Latin form could even be the older one.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The vernacular word appears in the 13th century.^[2][3] The Cantigas de Santa Maria describe a pit that was very deep e non redondo “and not round”, and a woman thrown into a round pool, ũu peego redondo.^[9] In the Crónica Troiana a man is moy redondo ẽno corpo, “very stout in body”, and has os ollos rredondos, round eyes.^[9] The Miragres de Santiago have pedras rredondas, round stones, and the Galician Estoria says that the world is made round.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Houaiss dates the figurative sense “very fat” to the 14th century.^[2] Bluteau gives letra redonda, printed as against handwritten letters, with the phrase mentir em letra redonda “to lie in print”, and traje redondo, the dress of ladies who did not dress in the French way.^[12] Morais (1789) records em redondo “all around”, citing Barros for a conquest of a hundred leagues em redondo, and the batalhão redondo, a circular formation facing the enemy on every side.^[13]

Modern senses include a round number, a categorical answer (um não redondo), a smooth, balanced wine, a well-placed pass in football and a square-rigged ship.^[2][1][4] Silva Bastos records a grape variety of the Minho and a carpenter's plane, and the Academia's dictionary gives the plane as a word of Beira.^[14][15] The word is also the name of a municipality in the district of Évora.^[1]

Timeline

• 10th century – mons sauto rodondo in a Latin charter.^[9][2]
• 1059 – villa insula rodonda in a Latin charter.^[9]
• 1089 – subtus monte redondo in a Latin charter.^[9][2]
• 13th century – first records of the vernacular word.^[2][3]
• 14th century – the sense “very fat”.^[2]
• 1365 – the spelling redonde; 1393 rredonda.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses redondo with Latin rotundus.^[16]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau records letra redonda and traje redondo.^[12]
• 1789 – Morais records em redondo.^[13]
• 1813 – first record of redondilha.^[3]
• 1844 – first record of arredondar.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. round, circular.^[2][4][1]
2. spherical.^[2][4]
3. cylindrical.^[2][4]
4. Curved, rounded.^[2][4]
5. (figurative) Plump, fat.^[2][4][17]
6. Full, stuffed.^[2][18]
7. Well finished, polished (of a speech or text).^[2]
8. Categorical, admitting no argument; rotundo.^[2][4]
9. Of a number or sum: round, without fractions.^[17][18][1]
10. (wine) Smooth and balanced.^[2][4]
11. (football) Of a pass: landing in the right place.^[2]
12. (nautical) Of a ship: square-rigged.^[2][4]
13. (printing) Of type: roman, upright, as against itálico.^[2][17]

Noun

1. Something round.^[2][15]
2. (regional, Beira) A kind of carpenter's plane.^[15][14]

Adverb

1. Of a drink: smoothly, pleasantly.^[1]

Word family

• arredondado
• arredondar
• redondeza
• redondilha
• redondamente

Related words

• rotundo
• roda
• Latin rotundus
• Galician redondo

Usage notes

Em redondo means “all around”, and letra redonda is print as against handwriting.^[19][17] In Brazilian nautical speech virar redondo or virar pelo redondo means to work without a break.^[2][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. redondo
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. redondo
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. redondo
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 834
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 437
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. redondo
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. rond
9. ^ a b c d e f g 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. redondo
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7400
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. rotundus
12. ^ 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. redondo
13. ^ 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, 303
14. ^ a b Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. redondo
15. ^ 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. redondo
16. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. redondo
17. ^ a b c d Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. redondo
18. ^ 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. redondo
19. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7883