tonto

Forms

tonto (feminine tonta, masculine plural tontos, feminine plural tontas)^[1]

Etymology

The origin is disputed.^[2][3] Cunha takes it as probably an expressive formation, and Corominas, whom Houaiss quotes, calls it an expressive word created in the language itself, of a kind found in many languages.^[4][2][5] The DLP also calls it expressive.^[6] Corominas follows Meyer-Lübke, who explained the word in the same way from its variants and its spread across several languages; the repeated consonant and vowel, he argues, suggest dull, foolish insistence, as in other words for foolishness.^[5][7]

Two Latin sources have also been proposed.^[2] One is Latin attonitus (“thunderstruck, stunned, astonished”), the participle of attonō.^[8][2] Silva Bastos and Michaelis call the adjective a contraction of the Portuguese word atônito, and DELPo derives it from the Latin word through Spanish.^[9][10][11] The other is tontum, taken as a form of the participle of Latin tondeō (“to shear”), because the hair of madmen and offenders used to be shaved; the Porto Editora dictionary gives this as the etymology, taking the form for the usual participle tonsus.^[2][12] Bluteau, in the 18th century, mentions the derivation from the Latin word for “thunderstruck” and another from a Greek verb meaning “to murmur”, since doting old men are always muttering.^[13]

The same word is Spanish tonto, first recorded in 1570, Italian tonto and Romanian tont.^[5][7][1] Corominas compares Hungarian tandi of the same sense.^[5][7] He thinks the Italian word a parallel creation rather than a loan from Spanish, and the Romanian one no Italianism either.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cunha dates the word to the 16th century, in the sense “dizzy, dazed”.^[4] A private letter of 1642 already has tonto.^[14] Houaiss's first date, 1678, is for the noun.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the dictionaries of the 17th and 18th centuries the word means one whose judgement has grown weak, above all with age: Pereira renders it with Latin delirus, Bluteau defines it as someone whose mind has been weakened by many years and gives the phrase velho tonto “doting old man”, and Morais as “of judgement impaired by the years”.^[15][13][16] Corominas notes that this Portuguese sense, “doddering”, differs somewhat from the Spanish one.^[5] Vieira adds the noun, um tonto, uma tonta.^[17]

Modern dictionaries put “dizzy” first, then “dazed, not oneself”, “crazy, foolish” and “naive”.^[2][18] In Brazil the word also means “drunk”; in Rio Grande do Sul it describes someone fuddled by drink without being fully drunk.^[2][19]

Timeline

• 16th century – first record, in the sense “dizzy, dazed”.^[4]
• 1642 – tonto in a private letter.^[14]
• 1678 – Houaiss's first date for the noun.^[2]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses Tonto with Latin delirus.^[15]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines the word as weakened in mind by age and discusses its etymology.^[13]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as “of judgement impaired by the years”.^[16]
• 1813 – first records of tontear and tonteira.^[4]
• 1836 – first record of tontura.^[4]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira quotes the word in poetry and records its use as a noun.^[17]

Meanings

Adjective

1. dizzy, having or feeling tonturas or vertigo: Levantei-me depressa e fiquei tonto.^[2][18][1]
2. Not in one's right mind; dazed, stunned, astonished (atônito): ficou tonto com a notícia.^[2][18]
3. crazy, foolish, silly; stupid.^[2][20][1]
4. naive, simple-minded.^[2][18]
5. (Brazil) tipsy, drunk.^[2][18][19]

Noun

1. A fool, a stupid or crazy person.^[2][6][1]

Word family

• tontear
• tonteira
• tontura
• estontear
• estonteante
• entontecer

Related words

• atônito
• Spanish tonto

Usage notes

The phrase às tontas means “at random, heedlessly, without thinking”.^[20]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. tonto
3. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. tonto
4. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. tonto
5. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 545
6. ^ a b 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. tonto
7. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. tonto
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. attonitus
9. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. tonto
10. ^ 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. tonto
11. ^ NEHiLP – Núcleo de Apoio à Pesquisa em Etimologia e História da Língua Portuguesa, Universidade de São Paulo, DELPo: Dicionário Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa (online database), p. s.v. tonto
12. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 9033
13. ^ 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. tonto
14. ^ 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. tonto
15. ^ a b 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. tonto
16. ^ 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, 466
17. ^ a b 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, 763
18. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. tonto
19. ^ a b Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. tonto
20. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. tonto