relação

Forms

relação f (plural relações)^[1] Houaiss records rolacoes in 1390, rrellaçom in 1391, relaçam and rellacion in the 15th century, and relação from 1553.^[2] Cunha adds rrelaçon (14th century) and rolação (15th).^[3] A letter of 1556 still writes Rolação.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin relātiō (“a carrying back; a report”), a noun formed on the supine stem of referō (“to carry back; to report”).^[2][3][1][5] Nascentes calls it semi-learned.^[6]

The same Latin noun gave Spanish relación, French relation, borrowed about 1220, Italian relazione, Catalan relació and Romanian relație.^[1][7] In Latin it named the laying of a matter before the Senate and the act of reporting.^[5][7] From the 1st century AD it also named the logical link between two things.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss gives as the first sense the act of relating, an account, and dates the first record to 1390.^[2] Cunha gives “description, news” and “likeness, analogy” as the senses of the 14th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From the 15th century Relação was also the common name of the courts of second instance.^[2] Barbosa (1611) explains it as the court where the high judges, the desembargadores, give their rulings, and as a name for those judges themselves.^[8] Morais (1789) gives, besides “narration of an event”, the relation that results from comparing two things, the moral bond of duties between people (que relações tem o vassalo com o soberano “what bonds the vassal has with the sovereign”), and connection, dependence, dealings.^[9]

The sense of a personal bond, of business, friendship or love, is now the most common, and the plural relações names the people one keeps company with.^[2][10] Mathematics and logic use the word for the condition that links two quantities or objects.^[2][11] As a euphemism it also means sexual relations.^[1]

Timeline

• 1390 – first record, spelt rolacoes.^[2] The spelling rrellaçom follows in 1391.^[2]
• 15th century – the sense of a court of second instance.^[2]
• 1553 – first record of the spelling relação.^[2]
• 1556 – a private letter writes Rolação.^[4]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders it by Latin relatio.^[12]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists the court of the desembargadores.^[8]
• 1789 – Morais adds the senses of comparison, moral bond and dealings.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of relating or telling; an account, a report: Fez uma relação minuciosa da viagem.^[2][13][1]
2. A list, a roll of names or things: Afixaram na porta a relação dos candidatos admitidos.^[2][13]
3. Likeness, analogy (analogia).^[2][13]
4. A connection or link between people, facts or things: Não há relação entre os dois casos.^[2][1]
5. A tie of business, friendship or love; a relationship: A relação entre os vizinhos melhorou muito.^[2][1][10]
6. (euphemistic) A sexual relation.^[1]
7. (mathematics) A comparison between two measurable quantities; a condition linking the values of two or more quantities.^[2][13]
8. (law) A court of second instance.^[2][13][14] Houaiss and Aurélio give it as the old common name of such courts.^[2][13][14]
9. (in the plural) The people with whom one keeps up friendship or social dealings.^[2]

Word family

• relacionar
• relacionamento
• correlação
• correlacionar

Related words

• relatar
• relato
• relativo
• referir
• Latin relātiō
• Spanish relación

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. relação
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. relação
4. ^ a b CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. relação
5. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. relātiō
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. relação
7. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. relation
8. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. relação
9. ^ 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, 314
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. relação
11. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. relação
12. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. relação
13. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. relação
14. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7949