Etymologically
Log in

sorte

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word sorte

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1200s Cantigas de Santa Maria More words from the 13th century
Inherited from
Latin sors
Ultimate origin
Latin sors
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin sors
Catalan sort
French sort
Italian sorte
Portuguese sorte
Romanian soartă
Spanish suerte
French sorte
Dutch soort
From the same root
English consort ← sors
Latin cōnsors ← sors
Latin exsors ← sors
Latin sortiārius ← sors
Latin sortior ← sors
Spanish sortero ← suerte

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /ˈsɔʁ.t͡ʃi/, [ˈsɔh.t͡ʃi][1]
  • São-Paulo: /ˈsɔɾ.t͡ʃi/[1]
  • Rio-de-Janeiro: /ˈsɔʁ.t͡ʃi/, [ˈsɔχ.t͡ʃi][1]
  • Caipira: /ˈsɔɻ.t͡ʃi/[1]

Forms

sorte f (plural sortes)[1] Houaiss records the 15th-century spelling ssorte.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sors (“lot; fate”), written Old Galician-Portuguese sorte in the oldest texts.[2][3][1][4] The Latin word first named a small wooden tablet used to answer questions put to oracles or to draw lots; it came to mean the drawing of lots, its result, one's portion and fate.[5][2]

The same Latin word is Galician sorte, Spanish suerte, Catalan sort, French sort, Italian sorte and Romanian soarte.[6][1] Spanish has it as sorte in the Glosas Silenses of the late 10th century.[7]

The Latin word goes back to Proto-Italic *sortis (“joining, joint”) and Proto-Indo-European *sr-ti- (“joining”), from *ser- (“to bind, line up”), the root of serō (“to join, link”).[8][1] The OLD marks the connection with the verb as doubtful.[9] Wiktionary adds seriēs (“row”) and sermō (“conversation”) to the family.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's chronology finds the word in the Cantigas de Santa Maria of the 13th century: os demões a alma fillaron del en sa sorte "the devils took his soul as their share" (cantiga 45), and tal foi sa sorte "such was his fate" (cantiga 184).[10] The same cantigas have deitar sortes "to cast lots".[10] Houaiss dates the noun to the 13th century and the senses "fate" and "portion that falls to someone by lot" to the 14th.[2]

Semantic evolution

The Crónica Troiana uses sorte for a share or portion.[10] Bluteau (1712–1728) notes that many took sorte to be the same as fortuna, but holds that it was properly the lots cast with written characters.[11] Folqman (1755) separates the sense "manner, kind", as in desta sorte "thus" and de sorte que "so that".[12] Morais (1789) adds the lottery ticket, with sair a sorte grande "to win the first prize" and, for a conscript, sair a sorte em preto "to draw the black lot" and have to serve.[13]

The modern senses run from "fate" and "chance" to "good luck".[2][14][1] In north-eastern Brazil a sorte is the head of cattle given to a cowherd as his pay, in Portugal a strip of farmland marked by stones, and in Rio Grande do Sul, after Spanish suerte de estancia, a plot for a ranch.[2][15][16] In bullfighting it is each of the passes the bullfighter performs.[2]

Timeline

  • 13th century – the Cantigas de Santa Maria use sorte for "share" and "fate".[10][3]
  • 14th century – the senses "fate" and "portion drawn by lot" are dated.[2]
  • 1363 – a record Machado knew, cited in the DDGM.[10]
  • c. 1430 – the Horto do Esposo, the first CTA text with the word.[17]
  • 1569 – Cardoso glosses sorte as Latin sors.[18]
  • 1611 – Barbosa lists lançar sortes "to cast lots".[19]
  • 1755 – Folqman separates the sense "manner, kind".[12]
  • 1789 – Morais records the lottery ticket and sorte grande.[13]

Meanings

Noun

  1. fate, destiny: the force thought to govern what happens in life.[2][14][1]
  2. The way something or someone ends up: Ninguém sabe que sorte terão os feridos.[2][14]
  3. Good luck, fortune; a lucky chance: Que sorte!;[2][20][1] por sorte.[2][20][1]
  4. Bad luck, misfortune.[2][21]
  5. One's condition or way of life.[2][14]
  6. A lot; the drawing of lots; a share that falls to someone by lot: tirar à sorte.[2][21]
  7. A lottery prize or ticket: a sorte grande.[2][21]
  8. A spell meant to influence someone's fate.[2]
  9. (dated) A kind, sort: toda a sorte de gente;[2][1] desta sorte "in this way".[2][1]
  10. (north-eastern Brazil) A head of cattle given to a cowherd as pay.[2][15]
  11. (Portugal) A strip of unwalled farmland marked by stones.[2]
  12. (bullfighting) Each pass or move made by the bullfighter.[2][21]

Word family

  • sortear
  • sorteio
  • sorteado
  • sorteiro
  • sortudo
  • sortilégio
  • sortir
  • Latin sors
  • Galician sorte
  • Spanish suerte

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 t u v Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. sorte
  3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. sorte
  4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. sorte
  5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. sort
  6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8107
  7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 330
  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. sors
  9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. sors
  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. sorte
  11. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. sorte
  12. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. sorte
  13. ^ 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, 420
  14. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. sorte
  15. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. sorte
  16. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. sorte
  17. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. sorte
  18. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. sorte
  19. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. sorte
  20. ^ 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. sorte
  21. ^ a b c d 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. sorte

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Sorte.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/sorte. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·