vento

Forms

vento m (plural ventos)^[1] Houaiss records the spellings veto and uentos in the 14th century and vemto in the 15th.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ventus (“wind”), written Old Galician-Portuguese vento in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4] The same Latin word is Galician vento, Spanish viento, Catalan vent, French vent, Italian vento, Romanian vânt and Sardinian bentu.^[5][6]

The Latin noun goes back to *wentos and Proto-Indo-European *h₂wéh₁n̥ts (“blowing”), a present participle of *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”).^[4][7] De Vaan reconstructs a derived *h₂weh₁-nt-o- whose long vowel was then shortened by Osthoff's law.^[7] Its cognates include gwynt, wint and वात (vā́ta).^[7][8]

Bluteau (1712–1728) derived it from veniō (“to come”), because one gust comes after another.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria have o vento moveu as ondas “the wind moved the waves” and the saying palla é contra vento “straw against the wind” for whoever goes against the Virgin.^[10] In the Miragres de Santiago a knight's throat swells asi com̃o odre cheo de vento “like a wineskin full of wind”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The sense “air” and the figurative senses grew from “wind”: Barbosa (1611) lists the vento galego, the north-west wind, and Houaiss gives the scent of animals, flatulence, a vain or empty thing, and in Rio de Janeiro money.^[11][2] In foundries vento is the blowhole left in cast metal by trapped air.^[2][12]

The word also named objects that keep off the wind: Morais (1789) has a machine used in Asia to bring fresh air into houses, and Morais (1813) a wooden screen set inside church doors, which Vieira (1871–1874) marks as antiquated.^[13][14][15] It passed into the creoles as bentu, bentu and bientu.^[4]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records.^[2][3]
• 13th century – o vento moveu as ondas in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[10]
• 14th century – the spellings veto and uentos;^[2] vemto in the 15th century.^[2]
• 1496 – first record in the CTA corpus, in the Regimento proveitoso contra a pestenença.^[16]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders it with Latin ventus.^[17]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists vento galego.^[11]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau derives it from Latin venio.^[9]
• 1813 – Morais records vento as a wooden screen before church doors.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. wind, air moving naturally in the atmosphere.^[2][4][12]
2. A current of air made by a machine or by hand, as by a fan.^[2][12]
3. air, the atmosphere: uma bola cheia de vento.^[2][4]
4. A blowhole in cast metal or glass, left by trapped air.^[2][18]
5. Each point of the compass rose; a cardinal point.^[2]
6. (figurative) A good or bad influence; luck, fate.^[2][12]
7. The scent of animals.^[2][19]
8. (informal) flatulence.^[2][18]
9. (figurative) A vain, empty or fleeting thing;^[2][4] (Brazil) nothing at all.^[2][4]
10. (Rio de Janeiro, informal) Money.^[2]

Word family

• ventar
• ventania
• aventar
• cata-vento
• para-vento

Related words

• vendaval
• ventilar
• Latin ventus
• Galician vento
• Spanish viento

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include de vento em popa “with a following wind”, that is, prospering, and aos quatro ventos “in all directions, for all to hear”.^[2]

Bluteau also records a separate noun vento for a lacquered cabinet from India with a single door, adding that some called it bentê.^[20]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. vento
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. vento
4. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. vento
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9212
6. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 806
7. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. vento
9. ^ 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. vento
10. ^ a b c 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. vento
11. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. vento
12. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. vento
13. ^ 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. 1, 245
14. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 105
15. ^ Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 3, 935
16. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. vento
17. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. vento
18. ^ 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. vento
19. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 9435
20. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. * vento