sério

Forms

sério (feminine séria, masculine plural sérios, feminine plural sérias, comparable, comparative mais sério, superlative o mais sério or seriíssimo or seríssimo, diminutive seriozinho or seriinho, augmentative seriozão or (colloquial) serião)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin sērius (“weighty, earnest, serious”), a learned word first recorded in 1652.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Cunha dates it to the 17th century.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Houaiss also records a form serioso between 1741 and 1783.^[2] Spanish serio, taken from Latin and recorded from 1626, and Italian serio are the same word.^[6][1]

De Vaan reconstructs the Latin adjective as *sērjo-, from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁-ro- (“slow, heavy”).^[7] The older comparison with Old High German swāri (“heavy”) and a Gothic word for “esteemed”, which the OLD still mentions, would need an initial *sw-, and de Vaan finds no sign of it in the Latin word.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to 1652 without separate dates for its senses.^[2] Bluteau's dictionary, the first to define it, gives “sober, grave”, said of words and speeches, with a quotation from a panegyric of the Marquis of Marialva, and “grave” said of persons.^[9] In classical Latin the adjective was used only of things, and severus of persons and things.^[10]

Semantic evolution

A private letter of 1762 has the plural sérios.^[11] Vieira (1871–1874) defines it as sober and grave, quoting the mock-heroic Hyssope.^[12] The noun seriedade is recorded from 1836.^[3]

Modern senses run from “not laughing, grave” and “important, deserving attention” to “dangerous” of an illness, “honest, reliable” of a person and “sincere, not pretended” of an intention; of a young man or woman it can mean chaste.^[2][13][1] It is also an adverb, “really, seriously”, and a noun naming seriousness and a children's game.^[2][14][1]

Timeline

• 1652 – first record.^[2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines serio of words and of persons.^[9]
• 1741–1783 – the variant serioso.^[2]
• 1762 – sérios in a private letter.^[11]
• 1836 – first record of seriedade.^[3]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira: sober, grave.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. serious, grave, solemn; not laughing: Ficou sério de repente.^[2][13][1]
2. Important, deserving attention: uma questão séria.^[2][5][1]
3. Of an illness or accident: dangerous, grave.^[13][1]
4. Done with care and rigour: um estudo sério.^[2][5]
5. Honest, reliable, keeping one's commitments: um mecânico sério.^[2][13]
6. Sincere, real, not pretended: A proposta dele é séria.^[2][13]
7. Of dress or manner: sober, austere.^[2][5]
8. Of a person: who keeps to the rules of sexual morality.^[2][13]

Adverb

1. really, seriously, in earnest: Sério, não fui eu.^[2][14][13]

Noun

1. Seriousness, gravity.^[2][14]
2. A children's game in which two people stare at each other until one laughs.^[2][13][1]

Word family

• seriedade
• seriamente

Related words

• Latin sērius
• Spanish serio

Usage notes

A sério means “really, in earnest” and also “severely”;^[2] levar a sério is “to take seriously” and also “to take offence”;^[2] sair do sério is “to lose one's gravity, to laugh” and, by extension, to do something out of the ordinary.^[2] Tirar do sério is to exasperate someone.^[13][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. sério
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. sério
4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. sério
5. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. sério
6. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. serio
7. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. serius
9. ^ 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. serio
10. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. serius
11. ^ 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. sério
12. ^ 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, 502
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. sério
14. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. sério