união

Forms

união f (plural uniões)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin ūniō (“oneness, unity; union”), a noun formed from ūnus (“one”) with the suffix -iō.^[2][3][1] Nascentes considers it a semi-learned word.^[4] In Latin the abstract sense “unity, union” belongs to Christian and late writers such as Jerome; the classical noun meant a large single pearl, and a homonymous noun named a kind of onion.^[5][6] The oldest Portuguese spellings are Old Galician-Portuguese huniam, Old Galician-Portuguese onyam and Old Galician-Portuguese uniom.^[2][3]

The same Latin noun gave Spanish unión, recorded from Berceo, and French union.^[7][1] The Latin numeral goes back to *oinos and *h₁óynos (“one, single”), with cognates such as 𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃 (ains).^[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 14th century, from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese, in the spellings huniam, onyam and uniom; the 15th century has the plural unyõoes and the form hunion.^[2][3] The first sense is the act of joining, junction and adhesion.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Pereira (1697) glosses uniam with Latin unio and vinculum “bond”, and Bluteau defines uniaõ as the joining of different things into one, noting the theological term união hypostatica, the union of the divine and human natures in Christ.^[9][10] Bluteau's book of synonyms adds concord, peace, alliance, league and friendship.^[11] The original Caldas Aulete has the political sense of states with some autonomy under a central government, and Silva Bastos (1912) the traço de união, the hyphen.^[12][13]

In Brazil União, with a capital, is the federal entity as distinct from the states and municipalities, and so the federal government.^[14][12] Modern technical senses include the coupling that joins two pipes and the union of two sets in mathematics.^[2][15] In Rio Grande do Sul the word is also used for the crossing of animals and for an unmarried partnership.^[16]

Timeline

• 14th century – first records, spelt huniam, onyam and uniom.^[2][3]
• 15th century – unyõoes and hunion.^[2][3]
• 1648 – a private letter writes uniã.^[17]
• 1697 – Pereira enters Uniam.^[9]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau heads the word uniaõ and defines união hypostatica.^[10]
• 1813 – first records of desunião and reunião.^[3]
• 1912 – Silva Bastos lists traço de união “hyphen”.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or result of uniting; junction, connection, contact: a união das duas peças.^[2][14][15]
2. The point where two things meet or join.^[2]
3. concord, harmony, cohesion of effort or feeling; hence the proverb a união faz a força “unity is strength”.^[14][18]
4. An alliance, pact or league.^[14][19]
5. marriage, a conjugal union, or a comparable stable partnership: união de facto.^[2][18]
6. The mating of animals.^[2][14]
7. A group of states, or of associations, under a common government or for a common purpose; a federation.^[14][15]
8. (Brazil) União: the federal entity of Brazil, as distinct from the states, and the federal government.^[14][19]
9. (Brazil) A metal coupling used to connect two pipes.^[2][15]
10. (mathematics) The union of sets: the operation, and the set it produces.^[2][15]

Word family

• desunião

Related words

• unir
• reunir
• reunião
• desunir
• unidade
• um
• Latin ūnus
• Spanish unión

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. união
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. união
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. união
5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. unio
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. unio
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 715
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ 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. uniam
10. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. uniaõ
11. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. uniam
12. ^ 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. união
13. ^ a b Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. união
14. ^ a b c d e f g Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. união
15. ^ a b c d e 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. união
16. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. união
17. ^ 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. união
18. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 9309
19. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. união