testo

Forms

testo m (plural testos)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin testū (“an earthenware lid; clay pot”), also testum.^[2][3][1][4] Houaiss notes that the Latin word lives on in all the Romance languages.^[2] Adolfo Coelho and Bluteau derived it instead from testa (“a piece of burnt clay”), the source of the Latin noun itself.^[5][6]

The same Latin word is Galician testo, Spanish tiesto, Catalan test, Italian testo, Old French test and Romanian țest.^[7][1] The Spanish word is recorded from 1220–1250.^[8]

Wiktionary too derives the Latin noun from that word.^[1][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest records have the sense “skull, the top of the head”: the Crónica de 1344 tells of a blow that cut through helmet and mail e o testo da cabeça, and the Crónica Troiana of sword blows that went through the helmet ata o testo “down to the skull”.^[9] The DDGM calls this a medieval sense.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The sense “pot lid” is the one the dictionaries record from the 18th century: Bluteau describes a round piece of baked clay with a knob in the middle, used to cover pots and pitchers.^[6] Morais (1789) adds an earthen pot holding lime for whitewashing, and testo do boi “the skull of an ox”.^[10] Aulete records the Minho phrase servir de testo “to act as a go-between”.^[11] The DLP lists further popular and regional senses: “hat”, a tostão coin, sponge cake, and in the Azores a shard of crockery and a woman of bad reputation.^[4] In Brazil it is also the crust of soot on the bottom of pots.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 14th century – first records, in the sense “skull”.^[2][9]
• 1344 – the Crónica de 1344 has o testo da cabeça.^[9]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines the pot lid.^[6]
• 1734 – Feijó distinguishes testo with close /e/ “lid” from tésto with open /ɛ/ “resolute”.^[12]
• 1789 – Morais records the lime pot and the ox's skull.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A lid of clay or iron for a pot or pan: tira o testo à panela.^[2][4][1]
2. An earthen pot in which lime is kept for whitewashing.^[2][4]
3. The skull of an ox.^[2][4]
4. (Brazil) The layer of soot stuck to the bottom of pans.^[2][4]
5. (informal) The head; the brains.^[2][11]
6. (in the plural) The horizontal sides of a frame saw.^[2][4]
7. (Portugal, informal) Sponge cake (pão-de-ló).^[2][4]

Related words

• testa
• testico
• Latin testū
• Spanish tiesto
• Galician testo

Usage notes

In Ceará testo with open /ɛ/ means “a punch”: Houaiss takes it from this noun with a change of the stressed vowel, and Nascentes explains it as a blow on the top of the skull.^[2][3][13]

The adjective testo with open /ɛ/ “firm, resolute; serious” is a separate word, from testa, recorded from the 15th century.^[2][14][4]

Informal Portuguese also has testo as a clipping of testosterona “testosterone”.^[1]

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 k l m Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. testo
3. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. testo
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. testo
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 493
6. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. testo
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8686
8. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. tiesto
9. ^ a b c d 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. testo
10. ^ a b 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, 457
11. ^ 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. testo
12. ^ 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. testo
13. ^ Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. testo
14. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. testo