Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word setenta
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Inherited
- First attested
- 1200s Cantigas de Santa Maria, spelt setaenta More words from the 13th century
- Inherited from
- Latin septuaginta
- Ultimate origin
- Latin septuāgintā
Etymology tree
Forms
setenta m or f[1] The medieval forms are setaenta (13th century), seteenta and sateenta (14th) and setenta (15th).[2][3][4] The registers of Noia also write seteẽta, sateẽta and once setpenta.[5] Bluteau and Folqman also give the spelling settenta.[6][7]
Etymology
It is inherited from Latin septuāgintā (“seventy”), written Old Galician-Portuguese setaenta in the oldest texts.[2][4][1] Nascentes and the Aurélio start from a Vulgar Latin *setaginta and trace it through the old forms Old Galician-Portuguese sateenta and Old Galician-Portuguese satenta.[8][9] The OLD records the spelling ⟨septaginta⟩ in a Latin inscription.[10]
The same Latin word is Galician setenta, Spanish setenta, Catalan setanta, Italian settanta and Old French setante.[11][12][1] Old Spanish also had setaenta.[12]
The Latin word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *septm̥̄ḱomt, from earlier *septḿ̥-dḱomt (“seven-ten”).[1] According to de Vaan, as Wiktionary reports, the ⟨ā⟩ came in from other tens such as sexāgintā (“sixty”).[1]
Earliest recorded meaning
Lorenzo's chronology gives three 13th-century records: a line of the Cantigas de Santa Maria (no. 112) about a ship that had run de millas setaenta, “seventy miles”, and a charter from Portel of 1275 with setaenta e cinqui “seventy-five”.[3] A charter of 1332 dates by the era de mill et CCCos seteenta.[3]
Semantic evolution
The word has kept its sense of the number seventy throughout.[2][3] In dates and sums, such as the Noia registers' era de mjll et quatroçentos et setenta et seys anos, the old forms gave way to setenta in the 15th century.[5][2] As a noun it names the figure 70 and the seventieth item of a series, and a versão dos Setenta is the Greek translation of the Old Testament made at Alexandria, the Septuagint.[2][13][14]
Timeline
- 13th century – setaenta in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.[3][2]
- 1275 – setaenta e cinqui in a charter from Portel.[3]
- 1332 – seteenta in a charter.[3]
- 14th century – the form sateenta.[2]
- 1341 – setpenta in a register of Noia.[5]
- 1476 – setenta in a register of Noia.[5]
- 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary lists Setenta.[15]
- 1712–1728 – Bluteau heads the word settenta.[6]
- 1789 – Morais defines it as seven tens.[16]
Meanings
Numeral
- seventy, sixty plus ten: A minha avó fez setenta anos.[2][17][1]
- (after a noun) The seventieth in a series: a página setenta.[2]
Noun
- The number seventy, and the figure 70 that writes it.[2][17]
- os Setenta: the translators of the Septuagint;[13][14] a versão dos Setenta, the Septuagint itself.[13][14]
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ 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. setenta
- ^ a b c d e f g 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. setaenta
- ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. setenta
- ^ a b c d 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. setenta
- ^ 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. setenta
- ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. setenta
- ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. setenta
- ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. setenta
- ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. septuāgintā
- ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
- ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. septuaginta
- ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. setenta
- ^ 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. setenta
- ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. setenta
- ^ 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, 399
- ^ 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. setenta
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Setenta.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/setenta. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.
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