título

Forms

título m (plural títulos)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote titulo, titulho, tytulo and titolo.^[2] The DDGM notes that the forms with o were the commoner ones in the Middle Ages (titolo in the Crónica Troiana, titollo in a Galician chronicle), and that a more evolved tidoo is found in a text of 1326.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin titulus (“inscription, label; title of a book; title of honour”), a learned word.^[2][1][4] Nascentes notes that it came in by the learned route through the old form Old Galician-Portuguese titolo.^[4] The popular outcome of the same Latin word is til, the tilde over a nasal vowel.^[1][5]

The Latin word also gave Italian titolo and French titre, and with the sense of the written mark Spanish tilde.^[5] Its own origin is uncertain: the OLD marks it doubtful, and Wiktionary suggests a borrowing from Etruscan.^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DDGM finds titolos in a Portuguese text of 1209.^[3] In a notarial book from Rianxo the word means a deed proving a possession: presentou hũu título que o dito arçobispo le ouvo feyto de merçed de XJ freigresjas “he presented a title that the said archbishop had granted him as a favour, of eleven parishes”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Houaiss dates the sense “subdivision of a legal text” to the 14th century.^[2] Morais in 1813 gives the word as an inscription or label, as the titles of books; as the name of a dignity, such as count or marquis, so that um título could mean a titled nobleman; and in law as the ground on which something is acquired, as a título de compra “by way of purchase”, and the deeds on which a right rests.^[7] In imperial Brazil the word named the titles of nobility granted, or bought, under the monarchy.^[8]

Modern senses add a work issued as a book or film, a negotiable security (título de crédito), a championship won in sport, and a ticket or pass for public transport.^[2][9][1]

Timeline

• 1209 – titolos in a Portuguese text.^[3]
• 13th century – the spellings titulo, titulho, tytulo and titolo.^[2]
• 14th century – the sense “subdivision of a legal text”; the modern form appears in the Fuero Real.^[2][3]
• 1326 – the evolved form tidoo in an administrative text.^[3]
• 1576 – titulos in a private letter.^[10]
• 1813 – Morais lists the senses “inscription”, “title of dignity” and the legal “ground of acquisition”.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A title: the name at the head of a book, chapter, article, film, song and so on.^[2][11][1]
2. A work issued as a book, film or record: A editora lançou trinta títulos este ano.^[2]
3. An inscription or label (rótulo).^[2][11]
4. A title of honour or nobility: o título de visconde.^[2][11]
5. A name or qualification earned, as an academic degree.^[2][12]
6. (law) A subdivision of a code or statute.^[2][11]
7. reputation, renown.^[2][11]
8. A ground or reason; a purpose, in a título de “by way of, as”.^[2][9][1]
9. (law) A document that proves a right, as of property.^[12][1]
10. (economics) A negotiable security, as in título de crédito.^[9]
11. (sports) A championship won.^[1]
12. A ticket or pass for public transport.^[1]

Word family

• subtítulo
• titular
• intitular
• titulação
• titulado
• titularidade

Related words

• intitulação
• intitulamento
• titulagem
• titulativo
• titulatura
• tituleiro
• til
• Latin titulus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. título
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. título
4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. título
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. titulus
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. titulus
7. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 779
8. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. título
9. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 9004
10. ^ 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. título
11. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. título
12. ^ 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. título