saboroso

Forms

saboroso (feminine saborosa, masculine plural saborosos, feminine plural saborosas, metaphonic)^[1] Houaiss records the spellings ssaborosa in the 14th century, saborossa in the 15th, sabroso in 1561 and saborosa in 1619.^[2] Dialect surveys in Portugal have recorded the variants saberoso and sabroso.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin sapōrōsus (“tasty, full of flavour”), from Latin sapor (“taste”), and the medieval texts already write it Old Galician-Portuguese saboroso.^{[2][4][5][6][1]} Several modern dictionaries analyse it instead as formed from Portuguese sabor + -oso.^[7][8][9]

The same Latin adjective lives on in Galician saboroso, Spanish sabroso, Catalan saborós, Occitan saborós, French savoureux and Italian saporoso.^[10][11] The Latin noun is formed from sapiō (“to taste of, have a flavour”) with the suffix -or, and the adjective adds -ōsus (“full of”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Cantigas de Santa Maria the word describes things pleasant to the senses rather than to the palate: songs and tunes saborosos de cantar “sweet to sing”, a spring that is saborosa, grand' e crara “pleasant, large and clear”, and a mass that was not saborosa to a priest who wanted only his own.^[12] A cantiga d'escarnho exclaims que amor tan saboroso “what a delightful love”, and the Crónica Troiana calls Troy the mays saborosa “most pleasant” of all cities.^[12][13]

Semantic evolution

In the medieval language the word meant above all “pleasant, delightful”, and the cantigas also use it as an adverb, of a parrot cantando mui saboroso “singing very sweetly”.^[12][14] Cardoso's dictionary of 1569 renders it with Latin sapidus “tasty”, and Bluteau gives both the sense “tasting good” and a moral one, as in saborosa conversação “witty, agreeable conversation”.^[15][16] Houaiss adds the figurative sense “cleverly funny, jovial”.^[2] Michaelis also records an old sense “affable, kind”.^[9]

The word passed into the Portuguese creoles of Asia: sabrozu in Kristang and sabroso or saboroso in Macanese.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records.^[2][4]
• 14th century – the spelling ssaborosa.^[2]
• c. 1430 – the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437) uses the word.^[17]
• 1561 – the reduced form sabroso.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso's Portuguese–Latin dictionary glosses it sapidus.^[15]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau records the moral sense in saborosa conversação.^[16]
• 1813 – Morais defines it as “causing a good taste” and, figuratively, “agreeable, discreet”.^[18]

Meanings

Adjective

1. tasty, delicious: having a pleasant flavour: Fizeram um caldo saboroso com o peixe do dia.^[2][6][1]
2. (figurative) delightful, very pleasant to experience: uma conversa saborosa.^[2][6]
3. (figurative) Cleverly funny, jovial.^[2][7]
4. (obsolete) affable, full of kindness.^[9]

Word family

• saborosamente

Related words

• sabor
• saber
• Latin sapor
• Spanish sabroso

Usage notes

The stressed vowel is closed /o/ in the masculine singular and open /ɔ/ in the feminine and the plural (saborosa, saborosos).^[19][20][1]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. saboroso
3. ^ 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. saboroso
4. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. saboroso
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. saboroso
6. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. saboroso
7. ^ 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. saboroso
8. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8217
9. ^ 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. saboroso
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7590
11. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. saporosus
12. ^ a b c 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. saboroso
13. ^ 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. saboroso1
14. ^ 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. saboroso2
15. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. saboroso
16. ^ 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. saboroso
17. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. saboroso
18. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 652
19. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. saboroso
20. ^ 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. saboroso