sinuoso

Forms

sinuoso (feminine sinuosa, masculine plural sinuosos, feminine plural sinuosas, metaphonic)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin sinuōsus (“full of bends, winding”), first recorded in 1611.^[2][3][1] Nascentes calls it a learned word.^[4] The same Latin adjective is Spanish sinuoso, Italian sinuoso, Catalan sinuós and French sinueux; the Spanish word is recorded from the beginning of the 17th century, the French from 1539.^[5][6][1]

In Latin the adjective is formed from sinus (“curve, fold; bosom”) with the suffix -ōsus.^[7][1] The noun itself was inherited as seio, written Old Galician-Portuguese sẽo in the 13th century.^[8][9] De Vaan connects it, probably, with Albanian gji (“breast”), and finds no further etymology.^[10] Wiktionary takes it back to Proto-Italic *sinus and Proto-Indo-European *sinos.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the first record to 1611.^[2] Morais (1789) defines it as "making folds, turns, waves", as the hem of a dress does, and quotes the sinuous coil (sinuoso enleio) of a river that winds in meanders and of a serpent.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The sense "winding, full of curves" has been the main one from the start, said of rivers, roads and lines, and of a body full of curves.^[2][12] Vieira (1871–1874) records the figurative use, a sinuosa lógica "the sinuous logic", and the surgical úlcera sinuosa, a narrow and deep ulcer.^[13] French sinueux was likewise first a medical word for such an ulcer.^[6] Today the figurative sense covers what is not straightforward or frank, and what is full of tricks and subterfuges.^[2][14] The noun sinuosidade is recorded from 1858.^[15]

Timeline

• 1611 – first record.^[2]
• 17th century – Cunha's date.^[3]
• 1789 – Morais: the coil of a river and of a serpent.^[11]
• 1858 – first record of sinuosidade.^[15]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira records the figurative sense and the surgical úlcera sinuosa.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. winding, sinuous; full of curves and turns, as a snake moves: um caminho sinuoso entre as vinhas.^[2][14][1]
2. Made of rounded curves; curvaceous, of the body.^[2][12]
3. (figurative) Not straightforward or frank; devious, tortuous.^[2][14][16]
4. (figurative) Full of tricks and subterfuges; cunning, wily.^[2][14]
5. (surgery) Of an ulcer: narrow, deep and winding: úlcera sinuosa.^[13][12]

Word family

• sinuosidade

Related words

• seio
• seno
• Latin sinus
• Spanish sinuoso

Usage notes

The stressed vowel is close /o/ in the masculine singular and open in the feminine and the plural (sinuosa, sinuosos).^[17][12][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. sinuoso
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. sinuoso
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. sinuoso
5. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. seno
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. sinueux
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. sinuōsus
8. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. seio
9. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. seio
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ 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, 403
12. ^ 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. sinuoso
13. ^ a b c 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, 534
14. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. sinuoso
15. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. sinuosidade
16. ^ 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. sinuoso
17. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. sinuoso