superstição

Forms

superstição f (plural superstições)^[1] Cunha records the 16th-century spelling superstiçam;^[2][3][4][5] Pereira (1697) writes Superstiçam, and Bluteau and Feijó superstiçaõ.^[2][3][4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin superstitiō (“superstition; scrupulous observance; religious awe”), recorded from the 16th century.^[6][2][1] Nascentes calls it semi-learned.^[7]

Houaiss derives it from the verb superstō (“to stand over or upon”), and Wiktionary forms it from that verb with the suffix -tiō.^[6][1] The OLD takes it instead from superstes (“standing by; surviving”) and suggests that its first sense was perhaps a state of religious exaltation.^[8] Corominas glosses the Latin word as properly “survival”.^[9] Bluteau already gave both explanations: the verb would give the vain worship of a deity standing above, and the adjective the cult of a dead person surviving in an image or in memory.^[4] Both go back to super (“over”) and stō (“to stand”).^[10]

The same Latin word is the source of Spanish superstición (about 1440), French superstition (1375), Italian superstizione and Catalan superstició.^[1][9][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest dated record is a private letter of 1541, which uses the plural superstições.^[12] Houaiss's first record is about 1560, and Cunha dates the word to the 16th century; his addenda have the derivative supersticioso, spelt superticioso, already in the 15th century.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

The dictionaries of the 17th and 18th centuries define the word from the point of view of religion: Bluteau's book of synonyms calls it a vain and ridiculous worship, the vice opposed to religion, and Feijó a cult with vain ceremonies not owed to God.^[4][5] Morais in 1813 still defines it as a false idea of certain religious practices and as improper worship.^[13] Vieira describes a religious feeling based on fear or ignorance that leads to false duties and to trust in things that have no power.^[14] The modern senses are wider: any belief without basis in reason, belief in omens drawn from chance events, and by extension a blind attachment to a rule or principle.^[6][15]

Timeline

• 1541 – superstições in a private letter.^[12]
• c. 1560 – first record, according to Houaiss.^[6]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses Superstiçam with Latin superstitio.^[3]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau gives two Latin derivations for superstiçaõ.^[4]
• 1813 – Morais defines it as a false idea of religious practices.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A belief or notion without basis in reason or knowledge, which leads people to create false obligations, to fear harmless things or to trust in absurd ones; crendice.^[6][15]
2. Belief in omens and signs drawn from chance events or coincidences.^[6][15]
3. A primitive religion that worships the spirits believed to dwell in things and in the forces of nature; paganism, magic.^[6]
4. (by extension) A blind, deep-rooted and exaggerated attachment to something, or to a rule or principle followed without question.^[6][15]

Word family

• supersticioso

Related words

• Latin superstitiō
• Spanish superstición

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. superstição
3. ^ a b c Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. superstiçam
4. ^ a b c d e Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. superstiçaõ
5. ^ a b c 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. superstiçaõ
6. ^ 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. superstição
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. superstição
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. superstitiō
9. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. superstición
10. ^ 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. stō
11. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. superstition
12. ^ 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. superstição
13. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 739
14. ^ 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, 631
15. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. superstição