uso

Forms

uso m (plural usos)^[1] Houaiss records the 13th-century spellings uso and vso and a 15th-century usu.^[2] Wiktionary lists usso as an alternative form.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ūsus (“use, practice, experience”), written Old Galician-Portuguese uso in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] Houaiss also notes usage (“use”) in the 13th century, a borrowing of the Romance noun that is French usage.^[2][4]

The same Latin word is Galician uso, Spanish uso, Catalan ús, French us and Italian uso.^[4][5][1]

The Latin noun is the action noun of ūtor (“to use”), from *oitōr;^[6][7][1] Wiktionary considers a link with Proto-Indo-European *h₃eyt- (“to take along, fetch”) possible.^[6][7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's first record is in the Cantigas de Santa Maria, como é de caer uso, and a document of 1310 has como e vsso da terra “as is the custom of the land”.^[8] The cantigas also use aver d'uso “to be in the habit of”: Estevan da Guarda writes Sempr' esto ouvemos d'uso, eu e mia madre “my mother and I always had this habit”.^[8][9] The first sense was thus “custom, habit”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Medieval texts pair uso with custume, and a charter of 1328 lists priuilegyos usos libertades “privileges, customs, liberties”.^[8] Bluteau (1712–1728) distinguishes use, “employing a thing for what it was made for”, from custom.^[10] Folqman (1755) records the legal sense, the right to use a thing one does not own.^[11]

Vieira (1871–1874) gives a commercial sense, the term (usually 30 days) allowed for paying a bill of exchange.^[12] Modern dictionaries add fashion, wear, and the use of words in a language; in rural Portugal the plural usos were the clothes given to farm servants on top of their wages.^[13][14][1]

Timeline

• 1200s – como é de caer uso in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[8][2]
• 1200s – Houaiss records usage “use”.^[2]
• 1310 – como e vsso da terra in a document.^[8]
• 1328 – priuilegyos usos libertades in a charter.^[8]
• c. 1430 – the Horto do Esposo uses the word.^[15]
• 1611 – Barbosa glosses it with Latin usus and usura.^[16]
• 1755 – Folqman gives the legal sense “right of use”.^[11]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira gives the term for paying a bill of exchange.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. use; the act of using something: o uso do telemóvel nas aulas.^[2][17][1]
2. Application, employment; usefulness: Esta ferramenta tem muitos usos.^[2][17]
3. custom, habit, established practice.^[2][17][1]
4. fashion, current style: estar em uso.^[2][13]
5. wear, deterioration through use.^[13][1]
6. The way words and expressions are used in a language.^[14][18]
7. (law) The right to use another's property for one's own needs.^[17][14]
8. (regional, Portugal; in the plural) Clothes given to farm servants besides their wages.^[13]

Related words

• usar
• usança
• usual
• desuso
• abuso
• Latin usus
• Spanish uso

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. uso
3. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. usar
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9099
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. usus
6. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. ūsus
7. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c d e f g 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. uso
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. uso
10. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. uso
11. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. uso
12. ^ 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, 864
13. ^ a b c d Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 9343
14. ^ a b c 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. uso
15. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. uso
16. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. uso
17. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. uso
18. ^ 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. uso