vanguarda

Forms

vanguarda f (plural vanguardas)^[1] 15th-century texts write auanguarda, uamguarda and vangoarda^[2], and Cunha also records avomguoarda from the same century.^[3] Feijó (1734) prescribes vanguarda and rejects venguarda and bemguarda.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French avant-garde (“vanguard”), taken through the old variant Old Galician-Portuguese avanguarda, which lost its first vowel.^[3][5][6] Houaiss notes that the French word, recorded from the 12th century, first belonged to military vocabulary.^[2] It is a compound of avant (“in front”), from Late Latin abante (Latin ab and ante (“before”)), and garde (“guard”), from the verb garder.^[2][7] Wiktionary traces the French verb to Frankish *wardōn (“to protect”).^[1]

Other sources give other models: the DLP and Porto Editora derive it from Catalan avantguarda, and Nascentes's fuller dictionary reports Said Ali's view that it came from English vanguard, a source the original Caldas Aulete also gives.^{[8][9][10][11]} Vieira already derived it from French.^[12] Spanish vanguardia has the same history, from the old form avanguardia.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 15th century, when it appears as auanguarda, uamguarda, vangoarda and avomguoarda in the military sense: the front part of an army on the march or in battle.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Pereira (1697) glosses vanguarda with the Latin primum agmen “the first column”, and Bluteau (1712–1728) defines it as the front of an army, the men of the first ranks of the battalions and squadrons.^[14][15] Bluteau also gives a figurative sense, “first place, precedence”, and quotes Lobo's Corte na Aldea for compliments that always “lead the vanguard” in these battles.^[15] Morais (1789) has levar a vanguarda “to go in front”.^[16]

The sense of the group that leads a movement, above all in the arts, became current in the 20th century, according to Houaiss.^[2] Aurélio describes it as the most conscious and combative part of a social group, or the pioneers of a cultural, artistic or scientific movement.^[5] Cunha dates vanguardeiro and vanguardismo to the 20th century.^[3] In Rio Grande do Sul the word also names the group of drovers that goes ahead of a herd.^[17]

Timeline

• 15th century – first records, as auanguarda, uamguarda, vangoarda and avomguoarda.^[2][3]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses it with Latin primum agmen.^[14]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines it as the front of an army and records a figurative sense “precedence”.^[15]
• 1734 – Feijó prescribes vanguarda and rejects venguarda and bemguarda.^[4]
• 1789 – Morais records levar a vanguarda “to go in front”.^[16]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira derives the word from French avant-garde.^[12]
• 20th century – the artistic and intellectual sense becomes current, and vanguardeiro and vanguardismo are first recorded.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (military) The leading part of an army, fleet or unit in battle or on the march; the vanguard, opposite of retaguarda.^{[2][5][18][1]}
2. The front or leading position in a line or sequence: Os alunos mais novos iam na vanguarda.^[2][5]
3. (figurative) The group that leads a social, political or cultural movement, especially artists and thinkers who develop new techniques and ideas; the avant-garde.^{[2][5][18][1]}
4. de vanguarda Progressive, ahead of its time: um teatro de vanguarda.^[2][8]

Word family

• vanguardeiro
• vanguardismo
• vanguardista

Related words

• retaguarda
• guarda
• avante
• French avant-garde
• Spanish vanguardia

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. vanguarda
3. ^ a b c d e f Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. vanguarda
4. ^ 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. vanguarda
5. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. vanguarda
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. vanguarda
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. avant
8. ^ a b 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. vanguarda
9. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 9380
10. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 519
11. ^ 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. vanguarda
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, 877
13. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. vanguardia
14. ^ 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. vanguarda
15. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. vanguarda
16. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 508
17. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. vanguarda
18. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. vanguarda