traidor

Forms

traidor m (plural traidores, feminine traidora, feminine plural traidoras)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote traedor, treedor and traydor; later forms are trahedor (14th century), tredor and treidor (15th), tredoro (1552) and tredro (1613).^[2][3][4] Feijó (1734) insists on traidor, not tredor.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin trāditor (“one who hands over; traitor”), written Old Galician-Portuguese traedor in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1][4] Nascentes says the modern form was remade from the old treedor and tredor.^[6]

The same Latin word is Galician traidor, Spanish traidor, Catalan traïdor, French traître, Italian traditore and Romanian trădător.^[7][1]

The Latin noun is formed from trādō (“to hand over, give up”) with the agent suffix -tor.^[8][1] Wiktionary analyses the verb as trāns (“across”) and dō (“to give”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A document of 1228 already uses it as an insult, punishing whoever disser a seu uiçino mãa paraula, traedor “says an evil word to his neighbour, ‘traitor’”.^[4] The Cantigas de Santa Maria use it often, also as a mere insult (Don vilão traedor), and the cantigas d'escarnho have the plural traedores.^[4] Houaiss and Cunha date it to the 13th century.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The adjectival use is medieval: the cantigas of Universo Cantigas have traedor both as a noun and as an adjective, as in falso treedor.^[9] Cardoso (1569) glosses Traidor with Latin proditor, and Pereira (1697) adds traditor and perfidus.^[10][11]

Houaiss records the modern adjectival senses “compromising, giving someone away”, as of a voice, and “dangerous without seeming so”, as of a current.^[2] Silva Bastos (1912) lists a slang sense “shoe”.^[12]

Timeline

• 1228 – traedor as an insult in a Galician-Portuguese document.^[4]
• 13th century – traedor and treedor in the Cantigas de Santa Maria and the cantigas d'escarnho.^[4][3]
• 14th century – the form trahedor.^[2]
• 15th century – the forms tredor and treidor.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary has Traidor.^[10]
• 1613 – the form tredro.^[2]
• 1734 – Feijó rejects tredor in favour of traidor.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A traitor, one who betrays a person, a cause or a country.^[2][13][1]

Adjective

1. Treacherous, disloyal.^[2][14][1]
2. That gives someone away; compromising: Foi apanhado pelo sotaque traidor.^[2][1]
3. Dangerous while looking safe: um rio traidor.^[2][15]

Word family

• traidoramente

Related words

• traição
• traiçoeiro
• trair
• Latin trāditor
• Spanish traidor

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. traidor
3. ^ a b c d 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 f 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. traedor
5. ^ a b 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. traidor
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. traidor
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. trāditor
9. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. traedor
10. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. traidor
11. ^ 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. traidor
12. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. traidor
13. ^ 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. traidor
14. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. traidor
15. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. traidor