sucinto

Forms

sucinto (feminine sucinta, masculine plural sucintos, feminine plural sucintas)^[1] Houaiss's first record (1635) is spelt succinto, with the Latin ⟨cc⟩.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin succīnctus (“girded up; short”), the past participle of succingō (“to gird up, tuck up”).^[2][3][1] Houaiss and Nascentes call it a semi-learned word, and they and Aurélio quote the Latin in the spelling ⟨succintus⟩.^[2][4][5]

The Latin verb is formed from sub- and cingō (“to surround, gird”).^[6][1] The Latin participle described people with their clothes gathered up by a belt, ready for work, hence "ready" and "short".^[6][2] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *keng- for the simple verb, with a question mark, and Wiktionary calls connections outside Italic uncertain.^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cunha dates the word to the 16th century with the sense "brief, concise".^[3] Houaiss's first dated record is from 1635, spelt succinto.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Portuguese the word has meant only "brief" from the first records; the literal "girded" stayed in Latin.^[3][2] A private letter of 1769 has the feminine plural sucintas.^[8] The original Caldas Aulete opposes it to prolixo and quotes Herculano on a Inventário sucinto "brief inventory".^[9] Houaiss also has "limited to the essential", and Michaelis "not abundant", of a meal.^[2][10]

Timeline

• 1500s – first record according to Cunha.^[3]
• 1635 – first dated record in Houaiss, spelt succinto.^[2][11]
• 1769 – the feminine plural sucintas in a private letter.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Said or written in few words; brief, concise, laconic (lacônico): uma resposta sucinta.^[2][5][1]
2. Limited to the essential; short.^[2][12]
3. Not abundant, meagre: uma ceia sucinta.^[10]

Related words

• cingir
• cinto
• Latin succīnctus

Usage notes

The dictionaries give prolixo as its opposite.^[9][10][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. sucinto
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. sucinto
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. sucinto
5. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. sucinto
6. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. succinctus
7. ^ 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. cingō
8. ^ a b CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. sucinto
9. ^ a b 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. sucinto
10. ^ 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. sucinto
11. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. sucinto
12. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. sucinto