sensualidade

Forms

sensualidade f (plural sensualidades)^[1] The 15th-century texts write ssenssualidade and senssualidade;^[2][3] sensualidade is recorded about 1543.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin sensualitas (“the faculty of sensation”), recorded from the 14th century.^[2][3][4] Nascentes calls it semi-learned.^[5] Wikcionário analyses it in Portuguese as sensual with the suffix -idade.^[6]

The Late Latin noun, used by Tertullian for the capacity to feel, is formed from sensuālis (“relating to the senses”) with the suffix -tās.^[1][7] Houaiss notes that the Portuguese word later changed its meaning under the influence of the senses taken by the adjective.^[2] The same Latin word is Spanish sensualidad, Catalan sensualitat, French sensualité and Italian sensualità.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 14th century, from Cunha's medieval index.^[2][3] The CTA has it in the Horto do Esposo, in a manuscript of 1390–1437.^[9] Cardoso's Portuguese–Latin dictionary of 1569 renders it with Latin Venus and voluptas, that is, as sensual pleasure.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa (1611) gives Latin libido and Venus and the phrase darse á sensualidade “to give oneself up to sensuality”.^[11] Bluteau defines the word as the natural leaning of the appetite of the senses towards bodily comforts and delights, and his book of synonyms lists concupiscencia and carnalidade beside it.^[12] Morais (1789) has a pleasant feeling caused by material things, carnal delight, and the quality of being sensual.^[13]

Modern dictionaries keep the sense of lust and add the attraction one body has for another and the charm of a person who draws others' interest.^[14][4] Aurélio also records a philosophical use, “sensibility”.^[4]

Timeline

• 1300s – first record.^[2][3]
• 1400s – the spellings ssenssualidade and senssualidade.^[2][3]
• c. 1430 – used in the Horto do Esposo (manuscript of 1390–1437).^[9]
• c. 1543 – the spelling sensualidade.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary renders it with Latin Venus and voluptas.^[10]
• 1611 – Barbosa gives darse á sensualidade.^[11]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines it as the leaning of the senses towards bodily delights.^[12]
• 1789 – Morais distinguishes carnal delight and the quality of being sensual.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality or character of being sensual: a sensualidade da sua voz.^[2][4][15]
2. A leaning towards the pleasures of the senses; voluptuousness.^[2][15]
3. lust, lasciviousness, lechery.^[4][16]
4. The sexual attraction a person exerts; by extension, a charm in a person's manner that draws the interest of others.^[14]
5. A love of material pleasures.^[4]
6. (philosophy) Sensibility.^[4]

Related words

• sensual
• sensualismo
• Spanish sensualidad

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. sensualidade
3. ^ a b c d e f Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. senso
4. ^ a b c d e f g Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. sensualidade
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. sensualidade
6. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. sensualitas
8. ^ 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. sensualidad
9. ^ a b Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. sensualidade
10. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. sensualidade
11. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. sensualidade
12. ^ 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. sensualidade
13. ^ a b 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, 391
14. ^ 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. sensualidade
15. ^ 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. sensualidade
16. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. sensualidade