valente

Forms

valente m or f (plural valentes)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote valente, ualente and vallente.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin valens (“strong, vigorous”), written Old Galician-Portuguese valente in the oldest texts.^[3][4][1] Nascentes calls it a learned form, and explains the change of meaning from “strong” to “brave” by the boldness of the strong.^[5] Wiktionary also analyses it as valer with the suffix -ente.^[1]

The same Latin word is Galician valente, Spanish valiente, Italian valente and Occitan valent; French vaillant is the old present participle of valoir.^[1][6]

The Latin word is the present participle of valeō (“to be strong, be healthy”).^[7][1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *wal-ē- and traces it to Proto-Indo-European *h₂ulh₁-eh₁- (“to be strong”).^[8] Wiktionary gives the root as *h₂welh₁-.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is found from the 13th century in the cantigas: Pero da Ponte praises este bon Rey de prez as valent' e fiz, and Pero Garcia d'Ambroa is espantado “astonished” at how valent' e ligeyro “brave and nimble” Pero Bõo was.^[2][9] The glossary of the Cancioneiro da Ajuda gives it as “full of worth, valorous”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The Crónica de 1344 calls a man muy vallẽte e bem cavalgador “very brave and a good horseman”, and the Miragres de Santiago have moy valente de mãos, rendering a Latin phrase about strength of arm.^[2]

Bluteau (1712) gives the senses “valorous”, “healthy” and, in fencing schools, the champion who holds the field; he also applies it to animals.^[10] Morais (1813) records touro valente “a strong bull” and a figurative sense “energetic, great of its kind”, said of a philosopher or a painter's stroke.^[11] Caldas Aulete adds “effective”, as of a remedy, and “of value, rich”.^[12] In slang, Silva Bastos (1912) records a small iron lever, which the DLP and Priberam describe as the burglar's tool for opening doors.^[13][14][15] In chemistry it means having valence.^[3][1]

Valente is also a surname, at first a nickname, and a municipality of Bahia.^[16][1]

Timeline

• 13th century – cantigas of Pero da Ponte and Pero Garcia d'Ambroa.^[2][3]
• 1344 – muy mancebo e mui valente in the Crónica de 1344.^[2]
• 1548 – vallẽte in a private letter.^[17]
• 1569 – Cardoso translates it with Latin strenuus and validus.^[18]
• 1712 – Bluteau records the fencing champion called o valente.^[10]
• 1813 – Morais records the figurative sense “energetic”.^[11]
• 1912 – Silva Bastos records the slang sense “small iron lever”.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. brave, valiant, fearless.^[3][1][19]
2. Strong, vigorous, robust.^[3][19]
3. Effective: um remédio valente.^[3][19]
4. Showing energy and determination.^[3][20]
5. Delivered with force.^[3][14]
6. (chemistry) valent, having valence.^[3][1]

Noun

1. A brave person.^[3][1][19]
2. A bully; a valentão.^[3][19]
3. (slang) A small iron lever used by burglars to force doors.^[14][15]

Word family

• valentia
• valentão

Related words

• valer
• valor
• válido
• Latin valens
• Spanish valiente

Usage notes

In Rio Grande do Sul the saying homem valente não dá em mulher “a brave man doesn't hit a woman” is current.^[21]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. valente
3. ^ 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. valente
4. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. valer
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. valente
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. vaillant
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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. ^ 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. valente
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. valente
11. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 825
12. ^ 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. valente
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. valente
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. valente
15. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. valente
16. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1952), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 2: Nomes próprios, Rio de Janeiro, p. s.v. valente
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. valente
18. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. valente
19. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. valente
20. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 9371
21. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. 2