sórdido

Forms

sórdido (feminine sórdida, masculine plural sórdidos, feminine plural sórdidas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin sordidus (“dirty, filthy; low, mean”), first recorded in 1572.^[2][3][1] Nascentes calls it a learned word.^[4] Houaiss makes it the learned doublet of the popular churdo, though under that word he calls its origin disputed, probably pre-Roman, and gives Cornu's derivation from the Latin word only as a proposal.^[2][5] The Spanish cognate sórdido is recorded from 1435.^[6]

The Latin adjective is formed from sordeō (“to be dirty”) with the suffix -idus, and the verb from sordēs (“dirt, filth”).^[7][1] Houaiss calls it the participle of the verb.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Camões, the first author recorded, uses it both of filth and of low rank: Morais quotes plebe sórdida “the base rabble” and sórdidos galegos from him, and the old Caldas Aulete his grão ferreiro sórdido “the great grimy smith”.^[2][8][9]

Semantic evolution

Feijó (1734) glosses it simply as “dirty”.^[10] Morais (1789) gives “dirty”, a sore foul with matter, and “base, and as unwashed as that class”.^[8] Vieira's dictionary (1871–1874) adds homem sórdido, a man who does filthy things and especially one who takes bribes in office, and “gained by base means”.^[11] The moral senses, “indecent, corrupt, vile” and “greedy, miserly”, now stand beside the physical one.^[2][12]

Timeline

• 1572 – first record, in Camões.^[2][3]
• 1734 – Feijó glosses it as çujo “dirty”.^[10]
• 1789 – Morais lists the physical and social senses with quotations from Camões.^[8]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira records homem sórdido “a venal man”.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. filthy, dirty in body and clothes.^[2][13][1]
2. That causes disgust; repugnant, nojento.^[2][14]
3. (figurative) Offending decency; indecent, shameful: uma história sórdida de chantagem.^[2][9][1]
4. (figurative) Corrupted by vice; infamous, corrupt.^[2]
5. (figurative) Using degrading means to reach an end; base, vile, torpe.^[2][13]
6. (figurative) Greedy for money; miserly, mesquinho.^[2][12]

Word family

• sordidez

Related words

• churdo
• Latin sordidus
• Spanish sórdido

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 k l Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. sórdido
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. sordes
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. sórdido
5. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. churdo
6. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 310
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. sordidus
8. ^ a b c 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, 419
9. ^ 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. sórdido
10. ^ 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. sórdido
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, 593
12. ^ 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. sórdido
13. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. sórdido
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. sórdido