torneio

Forms

torneio m (plural torneios)^[1] The 13th-century spellings are torneo and torney, and torneyo appears in the 15th century.^[2][3] The medieval chronicles also write torneio.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Occitan tornei, a deverbal noun of torneiar (“to wheel about from side to side on horseback”).^[2][3][5] Cunha traces the Occitan verb to the noun for the lathe.^[3] Wiktionary takes the chain back to Latin tornō (“to turn on a lathe”), from tornus (“lathe”).^[1][6] The Latin noun was borrowed from Ancient Greek τόρνος (tórnos, “carpenter's tool for drawing a circle; lathe”).^[1]

Not everyone accepts the Occitan route: Michaelis and the old Caldas Aulete give French tournoi as the source, and Nascentes notes that Adolfo Coelho had derived the word from French.^[7][8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 13th century, as torneo and torney.^[2][3] The Crónica Troiana uses it for a joust or single combat, in the phrase ẽnos grandes torneos et ẽnas grandes batallas “in the great tournaments and the great battles”.^[4] Medieval texts also have the longer nouns torneamento and torneyamento.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The medieval sense was a mounted combat among knights.^[4] The dictionaries of the 18th and 19th centuries still define it as a game of mock warfare between knights on horseback.^[10][11] The general sense of a sporting competition among several contestants followed, and figuratively a controversy or dispute between people.^[2][5] In sport Brazilian Portuguese has torneio da morte, the play-off that decides who is relegated to a lower division.^[2]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records, as torneo and torney.^[2][3]
• 15th century – the spelling torneyo.^[2]
• 1513 – torneo in the Livro dos Mártires.^[12]
• 1722 – Torneyo in a private letter.^[13]
• 1755 – Folqman translates it by Latin ludicra certamina equestria “equestrian mock contests”.^[10]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira defines a game of knights in troops imitating the skirmishes of war.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (historical) A medieval public and military game in which knights fought, usually on horseback; a tournament, a joust (justa).^[2][1]
2. (sports) A competition among several contestants or teams.^[2][5][1]
3. By extension, any contest between two or more competitors.^[2]
4. (figurative) A dispute about a question on which people differ; a controversy (polêmica).^[2][5]

Related words

• tornear
• torneiro
• torno
• Old Occitan tornei

Usage notes

Houaiss, Aurélio, Aulete and the DLP list a separate noun torneio “the act of turning on a lathe”, a back-formation from the verb tornear, which Houaiss dates to 1845–1850.^{[2][5][8][14]} It also names the rounded shape a turner gives to his work and, figuratively, elegance of phrase or of form.^[2][5] Torneio is also the first person singular present of tornear.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. torneio
3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. torneio
4. ^ a b c 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. torneo
5. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. torneio
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. tornō
7. ^ 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. torneio
8. ^ 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. torneio
9. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 499
10. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. torneio
11. ^ 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, 771
12. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. torneo
13. ^ 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. torneio
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. torneio
15. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. torneio