usura

Forms

usura f (plural usuras)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ūsūra (“use, enjoyment of a thing; interest on money”), recorded from the 13th century.^[2][3][4][1] In Latin it was a legal term for the profit drawn from money lent.^[5] The Latin noun is formed on ūtor (“to use”) with the suffix -ūra.^[6][1][2]

The same Latin word is Galician usura, Spanish usura, Catalan usura, Italian usura and French usure.^[7][8][1] The DHLF treats the French word, recorded in 1138, as a learned borrowing of the Latin legal term.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Two of the Cantigas de Santa Maria use the word.^[9] One tells of a man who had pawned something, “and the interest had grown so much that he could not redeem it” (e creçera a usura que o non podia quitar); another says the Virgin loves purity more than a miser loves riches or a Jew giving at interest (judeu dar a usura).^[9] The Galician-Portuguese Fuero Real forbids a Jew to lend at interest (Iudeu nenhuu nõ faça emprestido a usuras).^[9]

Semantic evolution

The medieval word meant interest on a loan in general, and Barbosa in 1611 renders it by the Latin usura.^[9][10] By the 18th century it meant unlawful profit on lent money: Bluteau's book of synonyms equates it with onzena and quotes Saint Ambrose, who linked it with uso “use”, since interest wears away a fortune as use wears out a garment.^[11][12] Vieira in 1871 gives both senses, any interest that money yields and profit above the legal or usual rate, and notes that the Romans used the word for any interest.^[13] Houaiss lists the legal senses, the loan contract with interest and lending above the legal rate, and the extended ones, excessive interest and excessive profit.^[2]

In north-eastern and southern Brazil the word has also come to mean meanness and greed.^[2][14][15] The derivative usureiro “usurer” is as old as the noun; the learned usurário replaced it later.^[3][16]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records, in the Cantigas de Santa Maria and the Fuero Real.^[2][9]
• 13th century – usureiro “usurer” is recorded.^[3]
• 14th century – the spelling husuras.^[2]
• 1611 – Barbosa's dictionary gives the Latin phrases for paying interest.^[10]
• 1755 – Folqman glosses it “unjust interest and unlawful gain”.^[12]
• 1871 – Vieira separates the general and the pejorative senses.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated) interest on capital or on a loan.^[2][17][18]
2. (law, dated) A loan contract by which the borrower must pay interest.^[2][14]
3. usury: the lending of money at interest above the legal rate; agiotagem.^[2][19][1]
4. Excessive, extortionate interest, onzena; by extension, excessive profit.^[2][14][1]
5. (informal) avarice, meanness.^[2][18]
6. (north-eastern and southern Brazil) Greed, ambition (ambição).^[2][15]

Word family

• usureiro

Related words

• usurário
• uso
• usar
• Latin ūsūra
• Spanish usura

Usage notes

Houaiss and Aurélio also record a Brazilian usura “wear”, the damage that materials suffer from use or friction.^[2][14] Houaiss explains it as an irregular formation from uso and -ura in place of usado and -ura, perhaps influenced by usura “interest”, and Aurélio derives it from uso under the influence of that word.^[2][14]

Pagar com usura means to repay far more than one received.^[19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. usura
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. usar
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. usura
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. usure
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. ūsūra
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9098
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. usura
9. ^ 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. usura
10. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. usura
11. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. usura
12. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. usura
13. ^ 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, 865
14. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. usura
15. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. usura
16. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. usureiro
17. ^ 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. usura
18. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 9346
19. ^ 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. usura