verde

Forms

verde m or f (plural verdes, diminutive verdinho)^[1] Houaiss's historical forms are uerde (in a Latin charter of 960), verde (13th century) and uerdes (14th century).^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin viridis (“green”), through the syncopated Late Latin form virdis, and was already Old Galician-Portuguese verde in the 13th century.^[2][3][1] The Latin word had the extended senses “fresh, young, vigorous”, which the Portuguese word kept.^[2] Wiktionary names the learned víride as a doublet.^[1]

The same Latin word is Galician verde, Spanish verde, Catalan verd, Occitan verd, French vert, Italian verde and Romanian verde; the Romance forms go back to the short form.^[4][5][1] The Spanish word is recorded from 1019.^[6]

The Latin adjective is derived from vireō (“to be green”).^[7][1] Its further origin is uncertain: a root *weys- has been proposed, linking it with the Lithuanian veisti (“to breed”) and the Old English wīse (“sprout”), but de Vaan doubts that these words belong together.^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Latin charter of 960 contains uerde.^[2] In the vernacular a document of 1257 has et scerame de verde.^[8] The 13th-century Cantigas de Santa Maria speak of un prado mui verd' assaz “a very green meadow”, and in the Cancioneiro da Ajuda Johan Garcia de Guilhade sings of olhos verdes “green eyes”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Already in the medieval Crónica Troiana a dry staff se tornou verde “turned green”, sprouting leaves, so the word meant “fresh, living” as well as the colour.^[8] Houaiss dates the figurative sense of the freshness and vigour of youth to the 14th century, and the noun sense of green fodder for cattle to 1552.^[2] Bluteau and Morais list the dyers' and painters' greens (verde mar, verde terra, verde bexiga).^[9][10] Morais also records verde for a dish of pig's blood and the rendeiro do verde, who farmed the fines for cattle grazing on others' land.^[10]

In north-eastern and central Brazil o verde is the rainy season (Houaiss's date 1899), and in Rio Grande do Sul it is a name for maté.^[2] The DLP records regional European senses, among them “blood” in Trás-os-Montes.^[11] Modern senses are “environmentally friendly” and, as a noun, a member of a green party.^[2][1]

Timeline

• 960 – uerde in a Latin charter.^[2]
• 1257 – verde in a Galician-Portuguese document.^[8]
• 13th century – un prado mui verd' assaz in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[8]
• 14th century – first record of the figurative sense “youthful, fresh”.^[2]
• 1552 – first record of the noun “green fodder”.^[2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau describes the pigments verde mar and verde terra.^[9]
• 1899 – first record of verde “rainy season” in Brazil.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. green, of the colour of grass and leaves.^[2][12][1]
2. Full of sap, living; not dry: green wood.^[2][12]
3. unripe, not yet mature: uma banana verde.^[2][1]
4. (figurative) Inexperienced, raw.^[2][11][1]
5. (figurative) Young and fresh: the green years of youth.^[2][12]
6. Very pale, livid, from fear or illness.^[12][11]
7. Covered with vegetation; relating to agriculture or gardening: green areas of a city.^[2][11]
8. Ecological, environmentally friendly; relating to the protection of nature.^[2][1]
9. Fresh, not salted, of meat.^[2]

Noun

1. The colour green.^[2][1]
2. Vegetation, plants in general; the natural landscape.^[2][1]
3. Green fodder for cattle.^[2][11]
4. (north-eastern and central Brazil) The rainy season.^[2][11]
5. (Rio Grande do Sul) Bitter mate, chimarrão.^[2]
6. A member or supporter of a green political party.^[2]

Word family

• verdura
• verdear
• verdejar
• verdecer
• reverdecer
• esverdear
• esverdeado
• enverdecer

Related words

• vergel
• víride
• Latin viridis
• Galician verde

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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 t u v w x y Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. verde
3. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. verde
4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9368
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. viridis
6. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. verde
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 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. verde
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. verde
10. ^ 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, 519
11. ^ a b c d e f 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. verde
12. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. verde