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Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word segundo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1200s Cantigas de Santa Maria More words from the 13th century
Inherited from
Latin secundus
Ultimate origin
Latin sequor
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin sequor
Portuguese seguir
Latin secundus
Portuguese segundo
Spanish segundo
French second
From the same root
Latin assequor ← sequor
Latin cōnsequor ← sequor
Latin exsequor ← sequor
Latin īnsequor ← sequor
Latin obsequor ← sequor
Latin persequor ← sequor
Latin prōsequor ← sequor
Latin resequor ← sequor
Latin secta ← sequor
Latin sector ← sequor
Latin sequāx ← sequor
Latin sequēla ← sequor
Latin sequēns ← sequor
Latin solsequia ← sequor
Latin subsequor ← sequor
Portuguese conseguir ← seguir
Italian secondo ← secundus
Latin secundārius ← secundus
Latin secundō ← secundus
Latin secundum ← secundus

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /seˈɡũ.du/, /siˈɡũ.du/[1]
  • Portugal: /sɨˈɡũ.du/, [sɨˈɣũ.du][1]
  • Portugal, Southern: /sɨˈɡũ.du/[1]

Forms

segundo (feminine segunda, masculine plural segundos, feminine plural segundas)[1] Houaiss records the medieval spellings segun and segund (13th century) and secundo (1317) for the preposition, and ssegumda (15th century) and segondo (1561) for the adjective.[2] Wiktionary lists the old spelling segũdo.[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin secundus (“following, second”), written Old Galician-Portuguese segundo in the oldest texts.[2][3][1] Wiktionary and Nascentes consider it a semi-learned word.[1][4] The preposition and conjunction continue the Latin preposition secundum (“following, according to”).[2][5][6]

The same Latin word is Galician segundo, Spanish segundo, Catalan segon, Occitan segon and Italian secondo.[7][8] Spanish has the preposition as a separate form, según.[9] French second is a borrowing of the Latin word.[10]

The Latin adjective is an old participle of sequor (“to follow”), from Proto-Italic *sekʷondo- (“that follows”); it meant "following" before it came to be used as the ordinal "second".[11][1][12] De Vaan traces the verb to Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to follow”).[11] It was first said of a wind or current that follows a boat from behind, hence "favourable".[12][1]

The noun "second of time" goes back to the phrase secundus minutus (“second subunit”), the second sexagesimal division of the hour or degree, beside primus minutus for the minute.[2] Houaiss explains the noun as this phrase shortened.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates both the preposition and the adjective to the 13th century, the adjective from the Cantigas de Santa Maria.[2] In the cantigas of the Cancioneiro da Ajuda the preposition already means "according to", in phrases such as segund' ora o meu conhocer "as far as I now know".[13][14] The Galician-Portuguese Crónica Troiana has both uses: o segundo fillo "the second son" and segundo quanto eu creo "as far as I believe".[13]

Semantic evolution

The conjunction, "as, according as" and "as, while", is dated by Houaiss to the 14th century.[2] The cantigas d'amigo have segundo como "just as", and Galician notarial documents segundo que in the same sense.[13] Barbosa (1611) glosses the adjective with Latin secundus and lists segunda vez "a second time", and Folqman (1755) has segunda feira "Monday".[15][16] Morais (1789) enters the preposition "according to" and segundo que.[17]

The noun for the sixtieth part of a minute is dated 1720 by Houaiss.[2] From the ordinal came the senses "secondary, inferior" and "another, a new one", and as a noun "a rival": não ter segundo "to have no equal".[2][18] In Brazil a segundo is a trusted assistant, and in Rio Grande do Sul a deputy commander or police subcommissioner.[2][19]

Timeline

  • 13th century – the preposition and the adjective are first recorded, the adjective in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.[2]
  • 1317 – the spelling secundo.[2]
  • 14th century – first record as a conjunction.[2]
  • c. 1400 – the Flos Sanctorum fragment of Santiago de Compostela, the first CTA text with the word.[20]
  • 1561 – the spelling segondo.[2]
  • 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary glosses Segundo as Latin secundus.[21]
  • 1720 – first record of the noun "second of time".[2]
  • 1755 – Folqman lists segunda feira "Monday".[16]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. second: coming next after the first in order, time or rank; the ordinal of two (Pedro II is read Pedro Segundo).[2][6][1]
  2. secondary, lesser; inferior in quality: vinho de segunda.[2][5]
  3. Another, new; repeating something earlier: uma segunda oportunidade.[2][6]
  4. (music) Playing or singing the lower part: segunda voz.[2]

Noun

  1. A second, the sixtieth part of a minute and the SI unit of time; loosely, a very short moment.[2][5][1]
  2. (geometry) The sixtieth part of a minute of arc.[2][5]
  3. The person or thing in second place; a rival or equal: não tem segundo.[2][22]
  4. (Brazil) A trusted assistant.[2] (boxing) A boxer's second.[2][5] (archaic) A second in a duel.[2][5]

Adverb

  1. In second place.[2][1]

Preposition

  1. according to, in keeping with: segundo a imprensa;[2][6][5] segundo o regulamento.[2][6][5]

Conjunction

  1. As, in the way that: Paga-se segundo se produz.[2][6]
  2. As, while, in proportion as: Ia lendo os nomes segundo os alunos entravam.[2][6][23]

Word family

  • segunda
  • segundar
  • segundinho
  • segundo-cabo
  • segundo-sargento
  • segundo-tenente

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 v w x y z 27 28 29 30 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. segundo
  3. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. segundo
  4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. segundo
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. segundo
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. segundo
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7774
  8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. secundus
  9. ^ 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. según
  10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. second
  11. ^ 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, p. s.v. sequor
  12. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. secundus
  13. ^ 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. segundo
  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. segundo
  15. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. segundo
  16. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. segundo
  17. ^ 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, 385
  18. ^ 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. segundo
  19. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. segundo
  20. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. segundo
  21. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. segundo
  22. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. segundo
  23. ^ 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. segundo

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Segundo.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/segundo. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·