rotura

Forms

rotura f (plural roturas)^[1] Houaiss records the spelling rutura in 1629.^[2] The DLP gives rotura as a variant of rutura, the form ruptura takes in the European spelling.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ruptūra (“a breaking, fracture”), written Old Galician-Portuguese routura in the old language.^[2][4][1][3] Cunha dates it to the 15th century.^[5] Aurélio, Aulete and Michaelis analyse it instead as formed from Portuguese roto + -ura, from the adjective meaning “broken, torn”.^[6][7][8]

The same Latin word is Galician rotura, Spanish rotura, Italian rottura and Romanian ruptură, while French roture took the Medieval Latin sense “land newly broken for tillage”.^[9][1][10] A learned doublet taken from the same Latin word, written as in Latin, is recorded from 1670.^[11][1]

The Latin noun is formed rumpō (“to break, burst”) with the suffix -ūra.^[12][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cardoso's Portuguese–Latin dictionary of 1569 renders rotura with Latin laceratio “a tearing”, and Pereira's of 1697 adds scissura “a split”.^[13][14]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau defined the word as the opening left in something broken or disjoined, and noted its use for a crack in the earth after an earthquake or a drought and for a break in the clouds, quoting Rodrigues Lobo.^[15] Morais repeated these senses and added rotura de palavras for the quarrelling words of people at odds.^[16] Vieira lists the breaking of a peace or a friendship, the outbreak of a war and a hernia, and also a sense “the condition of a person or an estate that is not noble”, the meaning of French roture.^[17] Michaelis keeps an old sense “newly broken land”, the same as arroteia, which matches the Medieval Latin use of the word for land reclaimed for tillage.^[8][18]

In modern Portuguese rotura and ruptura have the same senses, and Houaiss treats rotura simply as another name for ruptura.^[2] The Porto Editora dictionary notes that rotura is less used than ruptura, and adds technical senses in law, engineering and military tactics.^[19]

Timeline

• 15th century – first records of the word.^[2][5]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary lists rotura with Latin laceratio.^[13]
• 1629 – the spelling rutura is recorded.^[2]
• 1670 – first record of the learned doublet ruptura.^[11]
• 1697 – Pereira's Thesouro glosses the word scissura and laceratio.^[14]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau describes the crack in the earth and the break in the clouds.^[15]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira records the sense “non-noble condition”.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or result of breaking or bursting; a rupture or fracture: a rotura de um cano inundou a cave.^[20][19][1]
2. An opening or crack where something has split.^[19][1]
3. An interruption; the breaking off of relations between people.^[20][19]
4. (law) The breach of a contract or agreement.^[19]
5. (medicine) A hernia.^[20][19]
6. (engineering) The permanent deformation of a solid or a structure under a force.^[19]

Related words

• romper
• roto
• ruptura
• arrotear
• Latin ruptūra
• Spanish rotura

Usage notes

In Portugal rotura is a variant of rutura, and the Porto Editora dictionary notes that it is used less than ruptura.^[3][19]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. rotura
3. ^ 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. rotura
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. rotura
5. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. roto
6. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. rotura
7. ^ 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. rotura
8. ^ 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. rotura
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7455
10. ^ 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. rotura
11. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. ruptura
12. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. ruptūra
13. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. rotura
14. ^ 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. rotura
15. ^ 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. rotura
16. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 46
17. ^ 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, 342
18. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. ruptura
19. ^ a b c d e f g h Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8186
20. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. rotura