relicário

Forms

relicário m (plural relicários)^[1] Old spellings: reliquario (14th century), relicairo, religayro and rreligairos (15th century).^[2] Feijó (1734) sets the correct relicário against the faulty relicairo.^[3]

Etymology

Wiktionary, the DLP and Michaelis explain it as formed from Portuguese relíquia + -ário.^[1][4][5] Nascentes and Aurélio see in it a dissimilated *reliquiário.^[6][7] Wiktionary records reliquiário as a variant.^[1] Cunha instead takes it from Medieval Latin reliquiārium, a Medieval Latin word for a reliquary.^[8][9] Houaiss names only the Latin source, Latin reliquiae (“remains; relics”), from which relíquia also comes.^[2]

The 14th-century spelling was Old Galician-Portuguese reliquario, and the 15th century also wrote relicairo and religayro.^[2][8] Nascentes says the modern form was remade from the old religairo.^[6]

The Latin noun is from reliquus (“remaining”), related to linquō (“to leave”), from Proto-Indo-European *leykʷ- (“to leave”).^[1][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record, in the 14th century, is spelt reliquario and already means a box or casket for keeping relics.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

The dictionaries from Morais (1789) to Vieira define it simply as a box for relics.^[11][12] The original Caldas Aulete adds the small bag of relics that the devout wear round the neck, and quotes Manuel Bernardes on the communicant who becomes a relicário ou custodia of the body of Christ.^[13] Houaiss and Aurélio record the figurative sense “a precious thing”, and Michaelis a box of keepsakes and, figuratively, memory or the heart.^[2][7][5] The DLP and Porto Editora also use it for the place in a church where sacred objects are kept.^[4][14]

Timeline

• 14th century – first record, spelt reliquario.^[2][8]
• 15th century – the spellings relicairo and religayro.^[2]
• 1628 – a private letter of that year or earlier writes Relicario.^[15]
• 1734 – Feijó prescribes relicário against relicairo.^[3]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as a box of relics.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A reliquary: a box, casket, urn or other place made to hold the relics of a saint.^[2][7][1]
2. A small bag or medallion containing relics, worn round the neck out of devotion.^[2][13]
3. A place in a church where sacred objects are kept; a shrine.^[4][1]
4. (figurative) Something precious; a box of keepsakes; memory or the heart as a store of what is dear.^[2][5]

Related words

• relíquia
• Latin reliquiae

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. relicário
3. ^ a b Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. relicário
4. ^ a b c 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. relicário
5. ^ a b c 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. relicário
6. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. relicário
7. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. relicário
8. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. relicário
9. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. reliquiarium
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. reliquiae
11. ^ 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
12. ^ 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
13. ^ 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. relicário
14. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7959
15. ^ 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. relicário