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resposta

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Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word resposta

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1200s Cantigas de Santa Maria More words from the 13th century
Inherited from
Latin repositus
Ultimate origin
Latin pōnō

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /ʁesˈpɔs.tɐ/, [hesˈpɔs.tɐ][1]
  • Rio-de-Janeiro: /ʁeʃˈpɔʃ.tɐ/, [χeʃˈpɔʃ.tɐ][1]
  • Portugal: /ʁɨʃˈpɔʃ.tɐ/[1]
  • /hɛs.ˈpɔʃ.tɐ/[1]

Forms

resposta f (plural respostas)[1] Old Galician-Portuguese had resposta and reposta from the 13th century, and rresposta in the 14th; an archaic responsom is recorded in the 15th century.[2][3] The form reposta was still used by Fernão Mendes Pinto, Rui de Pina and Camões, and Nascentes notes that it lives on in popular speech in Portugal and Brazil.[4] Vieira in 1871–1874 calls it a word of the common people.[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin reposita (“put back, replaced”), the feminine past participle of repōnō (“to put back, to restore”), with its form influenced by responder.[2][3] In the oldest texts it is written Old Galician-Portuguese resposta and reposta.[2][6] Houaiss and Cunha take the form without ⟨s⟩ straight from the Latin participle and explain the ⟨s⟩ of the other by a blend with the verb, which had replaced the Latin noun respōnsum (“answer”).[2][3] Houaiss quotes Leite de Vasconcelos: since the noun began with the same prefix as the verb, the ⟨s⟩ of the verb was added to it.[2] Wiktionary instead starts from the verb, reshaped after posta, the feminine participle of põer (modern pôr).[1]

The DDGM's glossary of the Crónica Geral notes that the form with ⟨s⟩ looks older in the texts, and that Cornu, the REW and Corominas therefore derive the other from it by dissimilation.[6]

The same word is Galician resposta, Spanish respuesta, Asturian respuesta, Catalan resposta and Italian risposta.[1] The DLE derives the Spanish word from an old respuesto, an irregular participle of responder.[7] The Latin verb is formed from re- and pōnō (“to put”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria of the 13th century have respostas lle foron en dadas “answers were given to him” and de certeira cousa lle désse resposta “that he should give him an answer about a sure thing”.[6] R. Lorenzo cites these lines to antedate Machado's first record of 1453.[6] In a cantiga d'escarnho Estevan da Guarda writes certa resposta deve a levar / de vós, senhor, “he must take a sure answer from you, lord”.[6] The sense is already “answer, reply”.[6]

Semantic evolution

Universo Cantigas glosses the medieval word simply as “answer, reply”.[8] The modern dictionaries add a letter written in reply, a refutation, the solution of a question, and in fencing a return thrust.[2][9] Technical senses followed: the defence of the accused in a lawsuit, the choir's part in its dialogue with the celebrant, the answer that follows the subject in a fugue, and in behaviourist psychology the reaction to a stimulus.[2] In fireworks a resposta is each of the bombs that burst from a rocket.[2][10]

In Pernambuco the word names the stick or piece of wire that beats the metal of the drum in the auto dos caboclinhos.[2][11] Kabuverdianu has respósta.[1]

Timeline

  • 13th century – the Cantigas de Santa Maria write respostas and resposta.[6]
  • 14th century – the variant reposta is recorded, and the spelling rresposta.[3][2]
  • c. 1450 – resposta in the Livro das tres vertudes, in a witness of after 1450.[12]
  • 15th century – the archaic form responsom is recorded.[2]
  • 1503 – the word in a private letter.[13]
  • 1871–1874 – Vieira labels reposta a word of the common people.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An answer or reply: what is said, written or signalled in return to a question: A resposta dela chegou logo.[2][14][1]
  2. A letter written in reply to another.[2][9]
  3. A refutation: an argument that answers and overturns what was claimed.[2][15]
  4. The solution of a question or problem.[2][14]
  5. A response to a stimulus;[2] (physiology) a muscular or glandular process set off by it.[2]
  6. (fencing) A riposte, a thrust made in return for the opponent's.[2][9]
  7. (fireworks) Each of the bombs that burst from a rocket.[2][9]
  8. (law) The defence of the accused in a lawsuit.[2]
  9. (liturgy) The part of the choir in its dialogue with the celebrant;[2] (music) the answer that follows the subject in a fugue.[2]

Usage notes

The phrase ter resposta para tudo “to have an answer for everything” is said of someone who is never at a loss for words.[2]

In parts of Portugal trazer, dar or levar uma resposta means simply to bring, give or take a message.[16]

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 n o p q r s t u v w Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. resposta
  3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. resposta
  4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 441
  5. ^ 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, 259
  6. ^ 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. resposta
  7. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. respuesta
  8. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. resposta
  9. ^ a b c d Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. resposta
  10. ^ 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. resposta
  11. ^ Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. resposta
  12. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. resposta
  13. ^ 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. resposta
  14. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. resposta
  15. ^ 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. resposta
  16. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. resposta

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Resposta.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/resposta. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

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