salão

Forms

salão m (plural salões)^[1] The first record spells it salaõ.^[2] Morais (1789) writes salão.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Portuguese sala + -ão, the augmentative of the word for a room, under the influence of French salon.^[2][1][4] The French word was borrowed from Italian salone (“large hall”), the augmentative of sala.^[2][5] Nascentes and Aurélio leave open whether the Portuguese word is simply an augmentative or the Italian word taken through French, noting that the French word had meant a small room.^[6][7]

sala itself is of Germanic origin, from Proto-Germanic *salą (“dwelling, hall”).^[8] Houaiss leaves open whether it came through Catalan or Gallo-Romance or directly from Gothic, and Cunha takes it from French salle.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is from 1672–1693, in the sense “large room”.^[2] Cunha lists the word under sala with a first date of 1813.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Morais (1789) and Vieira (1871–1874) define the word only as a large room.^[3][11] In the 19th century it took on the French senses: the reception room for balls and concerts, a gathering of society people, artists and politicians, and the periodic exhibition of works of art, all in the original Caldas Aulete.^[12] The same dictionary already gives the Brazilian sense “barber's shop”.^[12] Today the word also names shops in a large open room (salão de chá, salão de beleza) and trade fairs such as salão do automóvel.^[2][13][7] In Rio Grande do Sul a salão is a private hall in the countryside where dances are held.^[14]

Timeline

• 1672–1693 – first record, spelt salaõ.^[2]
• 1789 – Morais defines salão as “large room”.^[3]
• 1813 – Cunha's first date.^[10]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira quotes a figurative use, “the first halls of the immense palace”.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A large room (sala); a hall.^[2][1]
2. A large room for receiving visitors, for balls (bailes) and other gatherings.^[2][4]
3. A periodic exhibition of works of art, books or new products.^[2][7]
4. A kind of shop or establishment in a large room: salão de bilhar, salão de chá.^[2][13]
5. (Brazil) A barber's or hairdresser's shop; short for salão de beleza.^[2][12][1]
6. (figurative) A gathering of society people, artists and intellectuals.^[2][7]

Word family

• salão de beleza

Related words

• sala
• saleta
• French salon
• Italian salone

Usage notes

Houaiss enters a separate salão (first recorded in 1699), of obscure origin, which Figueiredo took to be an altered solão, the augmentative of solo “soil”; in Brazil it names ground made impermeable by a stony layer, saline soil in the north-east, and clay banks along the rivers of Amazonia.^[2][6] Aurélio and Priberam derive it from solão, while the DLP takes it from Latin sabulo “coarse sand”.^[7][13][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. salão
3. ^ 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, 368
4. ^ 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. salão
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. salon
6. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. salão
7. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. salão
8. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. sala
9. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. sala
10. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. sala
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, 383
12. ^ a b c 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. salão
13. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. salão
14. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. salão