simples

Forms

simples (invariable)^[1] The medieval form was simplez (13th century), with the variants cimplez, simplex, sinpliz, simprez and siplez and the plurals simplezes and simplizes in the 14th century.^[2][3] Houaiss also records simple in 1589.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin simplex (“single, uncompounded; plain”), through the old form Old Galician-Portuguese simplez.^[1][2][3][4] Nascentes notes that the old forms, including Old Galician-Portuguese simprez, were remade in a learned way, with the final ⟨s⟩ that also replaced ⟨z⟩ in surnames such as Gonçalves.^[4][5] Aurélio calls the word popular,^[6] while símplice is its learned doublet.^[3]

The same Latin adjective is Spanish simple, French simple and Italian semplice.^[5]

In Latin it first meant “having a single layer”, and so “simple, plain, uncompounded”.^[7][8] It is formed of sim-, the element of semel (“once”), singulī (“one each”) and semper (“always”), and -plex (“-fold”), so that it meant literally “folded once”.^[2][7][1] Wiktionary traces the first element to Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the adjective to the 13th century, and Cunha records simplizidade “simplicity” in the same century.^[2][3] Nascentes quotes simplez of a person's deeds from the Inéditos de Alcobaça, and Charle o simprez “Charles the Simple” from the Scriptores.^[5] The Latin word had already taken the moral sense of “not complicated, artless”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau's book of synonyms gives singelo, parvo, néscio, inocente and crédulo, so that “simple” was also “simple-minded, credulous”.^[9] That sense survives in the noun, a naive or foolish person, and in the derivative simplório “simpleton”, recorded from the 19th century.^[10][3] Grammar, botany and chemistry use the word in opposition to “compound”: a simple word, sentence, subject or flower.^[2][11] In Brazil it is a euphemism for people of humble or poor background.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – first record, spelt simplez.^[2][3]
• 14th century – the variants simprez, cimplez and sinpliz.^[2][3]
• 1491 – the Vida de Santo Elói writes simplez.^[12]
• 1589 – simple, without the final ⟨s⟩.^[2]
• 1620 – the Vida e milagres de Santa Senhorinha de Basto (copied 1620–1645) writes simples.^[13]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau gives the synonyms parvo, néscio and crédulo.^[9]
• 1789 – Morais lists the masculine plural noun simples, the centering of an arch.^[14]
• 1858 – first record of simplório.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. single, not compound or multiple; made of one element: Pediu um café simples, sem leite.^[2][6]
2. plain, without ornament or affectation: Usava um vestido simples, sem enfeites.^[2][6]
3. easy to understand or to do, not complicated: Era uma conta simples.^[2][1]
4. Mere, bare, nothing more than: Bastou um simples olhar.^[2][10]
5. Of low rank, without title or post: um simples empregado de balcão.^[2]
6. modest, unpretentious, ordinary: Gostava de comida simples e caseira.^[2][6]
7. Frank and sincere, without guile; naive (ingénuo).^[2][15]
8. (Brazil, euphemistic) Of humble background, poor or uneducated.^[1]
9. (grammar) Formed of one root or stem (of a word), one clause (of a sentence) or one nucleus (of a subject), as opposed to compound.^[2]

Noun

1. A guileless or naive person; a simpleton.^[10]

Word family

• simpleza
• simplicidade
• simplificar
• simplificação
• simplório
• simplesmente
• simplista

Related words

• símplice
• Latin simplex
• Spanish simple

Usage notes

A separate noun simples, masculine and the same in the singular and the plural, is a term of construction for the wooden centering on which an arch or vault is built, the same as cimbre.^[2][10] Nascentes takes it for an alteration of cimbres, and Aurélio, with a possibly, for the plural of cimbre.^[4][6] Morais (1789) and Vieira (1871) already list it, beside a reference to símplices “medicinal simples”.^[14][16] The DLP labels the construction sense as obsolete.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. simples
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. simples
4. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. simples
5. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 470
6. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. simples
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. simplex
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. simplex
9. ^ 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. simples, Vocabulario de synonymos
10. ^ a b c d e 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. simples
11. ^ 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. simples
12. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. simplez
13. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. simples
14. ^ 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, 401
15. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. simples
16. ^ 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, 526