relevo

Forms

relevo m (plural relevos)^[1]

Etymology

It is a deverbal noun from Portuguese relevar (“to make stand out”).^[2][3][4][1] Cunha places its first record in the 17th century, and Houaiss in 1609.^[5][2]

The Romance noun of the same verb is Italian rilievo and French relief, and the REW takes the Portuguese and the Spanish relieve to be borrowed from the French word.^[6] DELPo compares the Spanish noun.^[6][7] The Portuguese dictionaries treat it as formed from the Portuguese verb.^[2][3][8]

Semantic evolution

The first dictionary record, Pereira's Thesouro of 1697, glosses relevo as Latin opus elevatum, raised work.^[9] Morais (1789) describes a figure carved so as to stand out from the surface of a board or stone, distinguishes relevo inteiro from meio relevo, and has raised embroidery (bordado de relevo) and a figurative use from the Malaca Conquistada, the sky ennobled com luzento relevo das estrellas.^[10] Vieira adds the painters' sense, the way objects seem to stand out of the canvas.^[11]

The figurative sense “distinction, prominence” is dated by Houaiss to before 1664, and survives in the phrases pôr em relevo and dar relevo a “to emphasise” and de relevo “notable”.^[2][8][12] The geographical sense, the relief of the earth's surface, is the commonest today.^[2][13][1]

Timeline

• 1609 – Houaiss's first date for the noun.^[2]
• before 1664 – first record of the figurative sense “prominence”.^[2]
• 1697 – Pereira lists relevo as “raised work”.^[9]
• 1789 – Morais has relevo inteiro, meio relevo and bordado de relevo.^[10]
• 1871 – Vieira records the sense in painting.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (sculpture) A relief: a carving in which the figures stand out from a background; see also alto-relevo and baixo-relevo.^[2][4][1]
2. The raised and sunken parts of a surface; a part that stands out: o relevo das letras numa moeda.^[2][13]
3. (geography) The relief of the earth's surface: its mountains, valleys and plains.^[2][4][1]
4. (figurative) prominence, emphasis, distinction; importance: um assunto de relevo.^[2][12][1]
5. (painting, photography) The appearance of depth produced by light and shade.^[2][8]
6. An engraving on metal or gemstones.^[2]
7. The act of making something stand out.^[8][14]

Word family

• alto-relevo
• baixo-relevo

Related words

• relevar
• relevante
• Italian rilievo
• French relief
• Spanish relieve

Usage notes

The noun has a closed stressed vowel, /ê/, also in the plural relevos, while the forms of the verb relevar (eu relevo) have an open one.^[4][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. relevo
3. ^ 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. relevo
4. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. relevo
5. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. relevo
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7192
7. ^ 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. relevo
8. ^ a b c d Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7958
9. ^ a b 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. relevo
10. ^ 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, 316
11. ^ 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, 179
12. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. relevo
13. ^ a b c 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. relevo
14. ^ 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. relevo