silêncio

Forms

silêncio m (plural silêncios)^[1] The 14th century wrote silencio and silençio, the 15th also çellençio, silentio and sillencio.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin silentium (“silence, stillness”), first recorded in the 14th century.^[2][3][1] Nascentes calls it semi-learned.^[4] Wiktionary notes that it displaced the inherited word Old Galician-Portuguese seenço.^[1]

The same Latin word was borrowed as Spanish silencio, first recorded in Berceo, and French silence, first recorded in 1119.^[5][6] Corominas thinks it entered Spanish through the silence of the monasteries.^[5]

In Latin the noun is formed from silēns (“silent”), the present participle of sileō (“to be silent”).^[7][1] De Vaan reconstructs an adjective Proto-Italic *silo- (“quiet”) and derives it from Proto-Indo-European *sh₁/₂i-ló- (“silent”), with a Gothic cognate meaning “to become quiet”.^[8] The DHLF calls the origin of the Latin verb obscure.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 14th century.^[2][3] The oldest dated records in Lorenzo's chronology are legal: a document of 1414 has e lhe fosse posto silençio “and that silence be imposed on him”, and one of 1426 poemos silençio perpetuo “we impose perpetual silence”.^[9] In the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437) it is the silence of a person who does not speak.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712–1728) defines silence as the opposite of speech or of any noise, and lists its uses in his day: the silence kept in religious orders and churches, the silence of not answering a letter, and silence as consent in law.^[11] Morais (1813) records pôr silêncio “to order a discussion to stop” and the sense “a lapse in correspondence”.^[12]

Modern dictionaries add the senses “calm, peace” and “secrecy”, and the word is also an interjection, “quiet!”.^[2][13] In barracks and convents silêncio is the bugle call or bell after which no noise is allowed, and in music a rest.^[14][15] In Rio Grande do Sul it is also the bugle call played at a soldier's burial.^[16]

Timeline

• 14th century – first record, as silencio and silençio.^[2][3]
• 1414 – e lhe fosse posto silençio in a legal document.^[9]
• c. 1430 – silencio in the Horto do Esposo.^[10]
• 15th century – the spellings çellençio, silentio and sillencio.^[2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau describes the silence of religious orders, of correspondence and of the law.^[11]
• 1734 – Feijó's spelling guide sets silencio beside the variant selencio.^[17]
• 1813 – first record of silencioso, followed by silenciar in 1836.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state of someone who says nothing or stops speaking: Ficou em silêncio durante a reunião.^[2][18][1]
2. A refusal or inability to speak, write or make one's thoughts known; reticence.^[2][13]
3. A lapse in correspondence or communication.^[2][14]
4. The absence of noise or sound: o silêncio do campo à noite.^[2][18][1]
5. Calm, peace, quiet.^[2][13]
6. secrecy: Planearam tudo em silêncio.^[2][13]
7. (military) The bugle call after which no noise is allowed in barracks.^[14][15]
8. (music) A rest, or the sign that marks it.^[15][19]

Interjection

1. Quiet!: used to order people to stop talking or making noise.^[2][18]

Word family

• silenciar
• silencioso

Related words

• silente
• Latin silentium
• Spanish silencio

Usage notes

Common phrases are guardar silêncio “to keep quiet; to keep a secret”, quebrar o silêncio “to start speaking again” and passar em silêncio “to leave out”.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. silêncio
3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. silêncio
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. silêncio
5. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 246
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. silence
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. silentium
8. ^ 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. sileō
9. ^ a b 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. silençio
10. ^ a b Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. silencio
11. ^ 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. silêncio
12. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 699
13. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. silêncio
14. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. silêncio
15. ^ a b c d Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8490
16. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. silêncio
17. ^ Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. silêncio
18. ^ 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. silêncio
19. ^ 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. silêncio