vestimenta

Forms

vestimenta f (plural vestimentas)^[1] Old forms include uestimeta, vistimenta and vistementa.^[2][3] Feijó (1734) still lists vistimenta beside vestimenta.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vestīmenta (“clothes”), the plural of vestīmentum (“garment”), which became a feminine singular in Portuguese.^[2][5][6][1]

The same Latin word is Spanish vestimenta and Catalan vestimenta, and in the singular Italian vestimento, French vêtement and Romanian veșmânt.^[7]

The Latin noun is formed on vestiō (“to clothe”) with the suffix -mentum, and the verb on vestis (“clothes”).^[8][9] De Vaan derives the noun from Proto-Indo-European *ues-ti-, and compares the Hittite verb wešš- (“to be dressed, wear”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Latin charters of Portugal use uestimenta for clothing as property, in 919 among the goods of an estate and in 1214 among the things to be given to a church.^[3] The first Galician-Portuguese record is a document of 1273 that promises to “provide this chapel with a chalice and vestments” (proueermos essa capela de calez e de uestimenta).^[3] In one of the Cantigas de Santa Maria the Virgin gives a bishop the vestment in which to say Mass.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In medieval texts the word mostly means the vestments of the priest.^[3] Viterbo explains that it was not the chasuble, then called manto, but the whole set that a priest put on to celebrate Mass: amice, alb, girdle, maniple, stole and chasuble.^[10] Bluteau in 1712 and Morais in 1789 still give the priestly vestments as the main sense.^[11][12] Modern dictionaries put the general sense, any article of clothing, first, and Houaiss adds a figurative one, anything that covers like a garment.^[2][13]

Timeline

• 919 – uestimenta in a Latin charter.^[3]
• 1273 – uestimenta in a Galician-Portuguese document.^[3]
• 13th century – vestimenta in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[3][5]
• 14th century – the spellings uestimetas and vistimenta.^[2]
• 1558 – vistimenta in a private letter.^[14]
• 1712 – Bluteau defines it as the priestly vestments for Mass.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais: clothing, especially the solemn vestments of priests.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. An article of clothing; clothes, vestidura.^[2][13][1]
2. A ceremonial garment, especially a priest's vestment for a solemn service.^[2][13][1]
3. (figurative) Anything that forms a covering: a vestimenta branca da serra.^[2]

Related words

• vestir
• veste
• vestido
• vestidura
• Latin vestīmentum

Usage notes

In the Azores the word is used for the clothes of a dead person that are given to a poor man for the repose of the soul of the deceased.^[15]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. vestimenta
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. vestimenta
4. ^ 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. vestimenta
5. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. vestir
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. vestimenta
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9281
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. uestīmentum
9. ^ 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
10. ^ Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 399
11. ^ 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. vestimenta
12. ^ 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, 522
13. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. vestimenta
14. ^ 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. vestimenta
15. ^ 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. vestimenta