serviço

Forms

serviço m (plural serviços)^[1] Houaiss records the spellings serujço, seruyço and sserujço in the 14th century and seruiso and sseruiço in the 15th; a Latin charter of 991 already has seruizio.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin servitium (“slavery, servitude; the body of slaves”), written Old Galician-Portuguese serviço in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] Wiktionary calls it a semi-learned word and notes that it can also be analysed as servo with the suffix -iço.^[1] The Latin noun is formed from servus (“slave”) with a suffix of abstract nouns.^[5][1]

The same Latin word is Galician servizo, Spanish servicio, French service and Italian servizio.^[6][1] García de Diego records an old Castilian form servizo and calls the modern Spanish form learned.^[7] In French the word is first found around 1050, as a term of religion and of feudal obligation.^[8]

De Vaan reports Rix's view that the Latin word for “slave” first meant “guard, shepherd” and took on the sense “slave” in Italy between about 700 and 450 BC, from a root also found in Avestan.^[9] Wiktionary likewise traces it to *serwos (“guardian”), from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to watch over, protect”).^[1] Houaiss explains the modern senses of the Portuguese word as an outgrowth of the Latin sense “condition of a slave, obedience”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Latin charter of 991 promises to do someone seruizio bono “good service”, with the Romance spelling of the noun.^[10] In Galician-Portuguese the word appears from the 13th century.^[3] The Cantigas de Santa Maria use it for a service done to someone, as in nenbre-te se t'eu serviço fiz “remember whether I did you any service”, and in en serviço do demo “in the devil's service”.^[10] In the love songs it is the lover's service of his lady, and fazer serviço means to perform a duty or court a lady.^[11][10]

Semantic evolution

In medieval documents serviço was also a feudal due: a fixed payment in money or produce, days of labour, a meal owed to the lord, or a customary gift from tenants, such as the serviço do Pasquoello paid at Easter.^[12][13] Viterbo notes that, where an old lease did not say what the serviço was, it meant a measure of wheat, one of barley and a hen.^[13]

Bluteau defined it in 1712 as the state of one who serves, and Folqman in 1755 recorded serviço de Deos “divine worship” and military service counted in years.^[14][15] Silva Bastos in 1912 records a set of dishes and cutlery for a meal and the last player in the game of péla.^[16] Modern senses include the service charge on a bill, a public or private department, and in economics a product that is not a material good.^[2]

Brazilian Portuguese uses it for one's job or workplace, for a mining site in Bahia and Minas Gerais, and for a piece of witchcraft done to order.^[2][17][18] The word passed into Macanese as siviço and into Hunsrik as Sërviss.^[1]

Timeline

• 991 – a Latin charter has seruizio.^[10][2]
• 13th century – first records in Galician-Portuguese, in the Cantigas de Santa Maria and the love songs.^[3][10]
• 1325 – first record of desserviço.^[19]
• 14th century – the spellings serujço and seruyço.^[2]
• 15th century – first record of serviçal.^[20]
• 1529 – a document of Paço de Sousa lists the serviços paid at Easter and Pentecost.^[13]
• 1712 – Bluteau defines serviço as the state of one who serves.^[14]
• 1755 – Folqman records serviço de Deos and service in war.^[15]
• 1871 – Vieira derives the word from Latin servitium.^[21]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of serving (servir); work done for someone.^[2][22]
2. work, a job or task to be done; employment: Ele perdeu o serviço em março.^[2][18][1]
3. (chiefly Brazil) The workplace.^[18][1]
4. The state of one who serves another; the performance of public, civil or military duties: serviço militar.^[2][23]
5. A religious service, the celebration of a rite.^[2][22]
6. A favour done without payment.^[2][18]
7. The way customers are served in a shop, hotel or restaurant, and the percentage of the bill added for the staff.^[2][22]
8. A set of dishes, cutlery and linen for a meal: um serviço de porcelana.^[2][24]
9. An organisation or department in charge of a particular function: serviço de saúde.^[2][25]
10. (economics) A product of human activity that is not a material good, such as transport or education.^[2][1]
11. (sports) The serve in tennis, volleyball and similar games.^[2][25]
12. (Bahia, Minas Gerais) A place where gold or diamonds are mined.^[2][17]
13. (Brazil, occultism) A spell or piece of witchcraft (feitiçaria) done to order.^[2]

Word family

• desserviço
• serviçal

Related words

• servidão
• servir
• servo
• Latin servitium
• Galician servizo
• Spanish servicio

Usage notes

The phrase não brincar em serviço “not to play at work” is used of someone who takes a task seriously.^[1]

In regional Portuguese serviço has also meant a present given to a bride and groom by a relative or friend, a sense found in a 15th-century document of Évora.^[26]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. serviço
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. servir
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. serviço
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. servitium
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7875
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. servitium
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. service
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c d e 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. serviço
11. ^ 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. serviço
12. ^ Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 316
13. ^ a b c Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 317
14. ^ 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. serviço
15. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. serviço
16. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. serviço
17. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. serviço
18. ^ a b c d 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. serviço
19. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. desserviço
20. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. serviçal
21. ^ 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, 507
22. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. serviço
23. ^ 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. serviço
24. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. serviço
25. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8448
26. ^ 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. serviço