vertigem

Forms

vertigem f (plural vertigens)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin vertīgō (“whirling; dizziness”), through the stem of its oblique cases.^[2][3][1] Nascentes and Aurélio give the Latin sense as “whirlpool”.^[4][5]

The same Latin word gave Spanish vértigo, Catalan vertigen, French vertige and Italian vertigine.^[6][1]

The Latin noun is formed from vertō (“to turn”) with the suffix -īgō.^[7] The verb goes back to Proto-Italic *wertō and Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the first record to between 1622 and 1682, and Cunha to the 17th century, with the senses “dizziness, faintness”.^[2][3] Pereira's dictionary of 1697 pairs it with the popular word vagado.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In Latin the word meant a whirling movement before it meant giddiness.^[7] Bluteau described vertîgem as a disturbance of the head in which everything seems to turn round the sufferer, caused by a thick vapour rising to the brain.^[9] The original Caldas Aulete added the figurative senses “momentary madness” and “sudden temptation”, still current.^[10] Medicine has since named many kinds, such as the vertigem das alturas felt when looking down from a height.^[2]

Timeline

• 1622–1682 – first record.^[2]
• 1668 – first record of vertiginoso.^[11]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses it vagado and Latin vertigo.^[8]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau explains it as a turning of the head.^[9]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira quotes a passage on the emperor Charles V's vertigos.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (medicine) vertigo, the sensation that one's body or its surroundings are spinning or swaying; dizziness, tontura.^[2][5][1]
2. (by extension) Any feeling of faintness or weakness.^[2][13]
3. (figurative) A momentary loss of self-control; a sudden temptation, frenzy: Numa vertigem, gastou tudo o que tinha.^[2][14][10]

Related words

• vertiginoso
• verter
• Latin vertīgō
• Spanish vértigo

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. vertigem
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. vertigem
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. vertigem
5. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. vertigem
6. ^ 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. vértigo
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. vertigo
8. ^ 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. vertigem
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. vertîgem
10. ^ a b 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. vertigem
11. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. vertiginoso
12. ^ 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, 923
13. ^ 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. vertigem
14. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. vertigem