temor

Forms

temor m (plural temores)^[1] The 15th century also wrote themor and teemor.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin timor (“fear, dread”), written Old Galician-Portuguese temor in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin noun is formed from timeō (“to fear”) with the suffix -or.^[5][1]

The same Latin word is Spanish temor, Catalan temor, Italian timore and Aromanian temoare.^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria have ouveron todos en mui gran temor “they were all in very great fear” and aver de Deus temor “to have fear of God”, the seventh of these gifts.^[7] The Crónica Troiana writes foron en gran coyta et en gran temor “they were in great distress and great fear”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word covers both fear of danger and reverent fear of God.^[7][2] Houaiss dates the sense of deep respect and obedience to the 14th century and records teemor “reverence” in the 15th.^[2] Morais (1789) defines it as the passion that makes one flee danger, well-founded apprehension, and respectful fear.^[8] It is also used of a person or thing that inspires fear, as in Camões's novo temor da maura lança “new terror of the Moorish lance”, and in older use of scrupulous zeal in one's duties.^[9][10]

Timeline

• 13th century – first record;^[3][7] temor in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[3][7]
• 14th century – the sense “reverence, respect”.^[2]
• 1416 – temor in the Vida de Santo Aleixo Confessor.^[11]
• 15th century – the spellings themor and teemor.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses temor as Latin timor and metus.^[12]
• 1748 – first record of destemor.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. fear, dread; a feeling of being threatened: Viviam no temor de uma nova cheia.^[2][10][1]
2. Deep reverence and respect: o temor de Deus.^[2][10][1]
3. (figurative) A person or thing that inspires fear.^[2][10]
4. Scrupulous care, zeal in fulfilling one's duties.^[2][14]

Word family

• atemorizar
• destemor
• temoroso

Related words

• temência
• temente
• temer
• temerosamente
• temeroso
• temível
• temorizar
• Latin timor
• Spanish temor

Usage notes

Temor with closed /o/ is distinct from timor “a native of Timor” and the place name Timor.^[9][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. temor
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. temor
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. temor
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. timor
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8738
7. ^ 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. temor
8. ^ 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, 448
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. temor
10. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. temor
11. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. temor
12. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. temor
13. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. destemor
14. ^ 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. temor