tesouro

Forms

tesouro m (plural tesouros)^[1] Old and early modern spellings include thesouro (14th century), tesoro, tessouros and tisouros (15th century) and thezouro (1587).^[2][3] Tesoiro is an alternative form, and the etymological thesouro was the usual spelling until the 20th-century reforms.^[1][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin thēsaurus (“treasure; storehouse”), written Old Galician-Portuguese tesouro in the oldest texts, and the Latin word is from Ancient Greek θησαυρός (thēsaurós, “storehouse, treasure”).^[2][5][1][6] The Latin /au/ became the Portuguese diphthong ⟨ou⟩, which alternates with ⟨oi⟩ in tesoiro.^[2][1] Learned borrowings of the same Latin word are tesauro and the unadapted Latin form, used for a reference book.^[2][1]

The same Latin word is Galician tesouro, Spanish tesoro, Italian tesoro and French trésor.^[7][1] The Spanish word is recorded from Berceo (1220–1250) on;^[8][9] Corominas notes that Meyer-Lübke took it for semi-learned in all the Romance languages, although its development looks popular everywhere.^[8][9] The first /r/ of Old French tresor and Catalan tresor anticipates the /r/ of the last syllable.^[7]

The Greek word has no certain etymology: Beekes takes it for Pre-Greek, because of its technical meaning and its lack of a convincing Indo-European root, while others derive it from τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put, place”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The testament of Afonso II of 1214 speaks of tithes the king has set aside en tesouros por meu reino “in treasuries throughout my kingdom” and of whoever holds meu tesouro ou meus tesouros on the day of his death.^[3][2] The first sense is thus both a store of wealth and the place where it is kept.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the Cantigas de Santa Maria a tesouro is buried treasure and gran tesouro d'ouro e de prata a great hoard of gold and silver; figuratively the Virgin keeps the faithful com'en tesouro “as in a treasury”.^[3] The Crónica Troiana and the Miragres de Santiago use it for the riches of a city and of a church.^[3] Houaiss dates the sense “public treasury” to the 14th century, and Barbosa (1611) has tesouro publico for Latin aerarium.^[2][10] With a capital, Tesouro became the state's treasury and the ministry of finance.^[2][11] Figurative senses followed: a person or thing dearly loved, a collection of good writings, and in lexicography a thesaurus.^[2][11][1] In law it is a hidden deposit of valuables whose owner is unknown.^[2][12]

Timeline

• 1214 – tesouro and tesouros in the testament of Afonso II.^[3][2]
• 13th century – the Cantigas de Santa Maria speak of a gran tesouro d'ouro e de prata.^[3]
• 13th century – tesouraria and tesoureiro are first recorded.^[5]
• 14th century – the spelling thesouro;^[2] Houaiss's first date for the sense “public treasury”.^[2]
• c. 1430 – tesouro in the Horto do Esposo (witness 1390–1437).^[13]
• 16th century – entesourar “to hoard”.^[5]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists tesouro publico and fazer tesouro.^[10]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau refers tesouro to the spelling thesouro.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A treasure: a store of money, jewels or other valuables, often hidden: Os piratas enterraram o tesouro na praia.^[2][11][1]
2. The place where such riches are kept.^[2][11]
3. (usually capitalised) The public treasury; the funds of the state, the building that houses them, and the ministry of finance.^{[2][11][15][1]}
4. A collection of precious objects, especially the plate and ornaments kept in a church.^[2][12]
5. (law) An old deposit of coins or valuables, hidden or buried, whose owner is not known.^[2][12]
6. (figurative) Something or someone greatly valued; a term of endearment: O neto é o tesouro da família.^[2][1]
7. (figurative) A repository of knowledge; a collection of writings by good authors.^[2][11]
8. (lexicography) A thesaurus or large dictionary of a language.^[2][1]

Word family

• entesourar
• tesouraria
• tesoureiro

Related words

• tesauro
• thesaurus
• Latin thēsaurus
• Spanish tesoro

Usage notes

Caça ao tesouro is a treasure hunt.^[1] In the olive mills of some villages of Portugal a tesouro is the vessel into which the oil and the watery dregs run before they are separated.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. tesouro
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. tesouro
4. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. tesouro
5. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. tesouro
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. tesouro
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8706
8. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 477
9. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. tesoro
10. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. tesouro
11. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. tesouro
12. ^ 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. tesouro
13. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. tesouro
14. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. tesouro
15. ^ 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. tesouro
16. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. tesouro