traição

Forms

traição f (plural traições)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote trayçon, traiçom, traiçon and traïçon in the 13th century and treyçõ and treyçom in the 14th;^[2][3][4] traicam is recorded in the 15th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin trāditiō (“a handing over, surrender”), written Old Galician-Portuguese trayçon and Old Galician-Portuguese traiçon in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] Aurélio and Caldas Aulete call it a popular word, and Nascentes explains the sense: the traitor hands a person over to the enemy.^[5][6][7] The Latin noun is formed from trādō (“to hand over, deliver; to betray”) with the suffix -tiō; the verb is made of trāns- (“across”) and dō (“to give”), from Proto-Indo-European *deh₃- (“to give”).^[8][1]

The same Latin word is Galician traizón, Spanish traición, French trahison and Italian tradigione, in the sense “betrayal”.^[9][1] Its learned doublet is tradição “tradition”.^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria use it for an act of treachery: fez aquesta trayçon “he committed this treachery”, gran traiçon y penssastes “you plotted great treachery there”, and the devil chẽo de traiçon “full of treachery”.^[10][4] The troubadours have the phrase fazer traiçon sobre alguém “to betray someone”.^[10] Lorenzo's chronology also refers to an earlier date, 1152, for the form traicion.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The Crónica Troiana speaks of the treachery that ruined the speaker's lineage.^[4] Bluteau's book of synonyms (1712–1728) pairs traiçam with perfidy, faithlessness and disloyalty.^[11] Morais (1813) defines it as the breaking of a promised faith and explains à traição “from behind, treacherously”.^[12] Caldas Aulete's original dictionary adds unfaithfulness in love and an ambush.^[6]

Modern dictionaries add the legal sense of treason against one's country and, in Brazil (Mato Grosso), a kind of mutirão, collective farm work in which the helpers arrive unannounced at dawn and wake the farmer with songs.^[2][5][13] The word passed into Tetum as traisaun.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – trayçon and traiçon in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[10][3]
• 14th century – the spelling treyçõ.^[3]
• 15th century – the spelling traicam.^[2]
• 1593 – a private letter writes treycam.^[14]
• 1697 – Pereira's dictionary translates Traição with Latin proditio and insidiae.^[15]
• 1858 – first record of traiçoeiro.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. betrayal: the breaking of a promised loyalty by a treacherous act; perfídia, disloyalty.^[2][5][1]
2. (law) treason: the crime of a citizen who acts against the security of his country.^[2][13]
3. infidelity in love or marriage: Ela nunca lhe perdoou a traição.^[5][1]
4. An ambush or unexpected attack;^[16][17] à traição “treacherously, from behind”.^[16][17]
5. (Brazil, Mato Grosso) A mutirão in which the helpers arrive unannounced at dawn, singing, at the house of the person they help.^[5][6]

Word family

• atraiçoar
• atraiçoador
• traiçoeiro

Related words

• tradição
• traído
• traidor
• trair
• Latin trāditiō
• Spanish traición

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. traição
3. ^ a b c d e f g Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. traição
4. ^ 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. trayçon
5. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. traição
6. ^ a b c 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. traição
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. traição
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. trāditiō
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8829
10. ^ 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. traiçon
11. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. traiçam
12. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 794
13. ^ a b 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. traição
14. ^ 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. traição
15. ^ 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. traição
16. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. traição
17. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 9088