vida

Forms

vida f (plural vidas)^[1] Houaiss records vida and uida in the 13th century and ujda and vyda in the 14th.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vita (“life”), written Old Galician-Portuguese vida in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1]

The same Latin word is Galician vida, Spanish vida, Catalan vida, Occitan vida, French vie and Italian vita; in Romanian vită narrowed to “living creature, cattle”.^[4][1][5]

The Latin noun is a derivative of the verb vīvō (“to live”), from *gʷītā.^[6][1] De Vaan derives the verb from *gʷih₃- (“to live”);^[6][1] Wiktionary compares the Greek βίοτος (bíotos, “life”).^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's chronology quotes Latin charters with uida from 947 (perseuerantes fuerint in uida sancta, “who persevere in a holy life”), 999 and 1041.^[7][2] It reports Machado's date of 1214 for the first record in Portuguese.^[7] In the Cantigas de Santa Maria the word is already the life of a person and eternal life: da celestial vida gran sabor avia “he had great longing for the heavenly life”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Houaiss's first sense, “way of living, set of habits”, carries the date of the charter of 947, and he dates the biological sense of life as opposed to death to the 13th century.^[2] The Cancioneiro da Ajuda sets vida against morte, and the cantigas use phrases such as viver ũa vida and non dar nada por sa vida “not to care for one's life”.^[7]

Medieval Portuguese also used vida for food and sustenance.^[8] Viterbo describes a due called vida paid to the king or the lord in meals or in kind, citing a document of Santo Tirso of 1279, and the glossary of the cantigas has the sense “food” in a song of João Servando.^[8][9][10] Modern dictionaries keep the senses “sustenance” and “occupation, livelihood”, as in ganhar a vida.^[11][1]

Bluteau's dictionary begins its long article with the theological doctrine of God as the first life.^[12] Modern figurative senses include liveliness and vigour, and a term of endearment (minha vida).^[2][1] In video games a vida is one of the player's chances.^[1]

The word passed into the Portuguese-based creoles and into Tetum: Kabuverdianu bida, Guinea-Bissau Creole bida, Macanese vida and Tetum vida.^[1]

Timeline

• 947 – a Latin charter writes in uida sancta.^[7][2]
• 1214 – Machado's date for the first record in Portuguese.^[7]
• 13th century – the biological sense, life as opposed to death; the Cantigas de Santa Maria use vida often.^[2][7]
• 1279 – a document of Santo Tirso records the due called vida.^[8]
• 14th century – the spellings ujda and vyda.^[2]
• c. 1400 – the earliest occurrence in the CTA corpus, a fragment of the Flos Sanctorum.^[13]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders vida by Latin vita.^[14]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as the opposite of death, the state in which an animal performs its natural functions.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. life, the property of living beings, which grow, develop and die, as opposed to death and to inert matter: a vida das plantas.^[2][16][1]
2. The state of being alive: O médico salvou-lhe a vida.^[2][17]
3. A lifetime, the time between birth and death; a stage of it: Viveu toda a vida na aldeia.^[2][11][1]
4. The length of time a thing lasts or works: a vida de um motor.^[2]
5. A way of living, a set of habits: Leva uma vida simples.^[2][11]
6. livelihood, the means of living; one's occupation: ganhar a vida.^[11][1]
7. The living beings of a place or kind: a vida marinha.^[2][1]
8. (figurative) Liveliness, vigour, enthusiasm; what gives meaning to someone's existence: A música é a minha vida.^[2][1]
9. (figurative, endearing) Darling, sweetheart: minha vida.^[1]
10. (video games) One of a player's chances to play.^[1]

Word family

• vidinha

Related words

• vital
• vitalício
• vitalidade
• viver
• vivo
• Latin vita
• Galician vida

Usage notes

Common phrases include ganhar a vida “to earn one's living”, vida de cão “a dog's life” and entre a vida e a morte “between life and death”.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. vida
3. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. vida
4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9385
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. vita
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e f g 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. vida
8. ^ a b c 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, 400
9. ^ Lopes, Graça Videira; Ferreira, Manuel Pedro et al. (2011–), Cantigas Medievais Galego-Portuguesas [online database], Lisboa: Instituto de Estudos Medievais, FCSH/NOVA, https://cantigas.fcsh.unl.pt, p. s.v. vida
10. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. vida
11. ^ a b c d Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. vida
12. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. vida
13. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. vida
14. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. vida
15. ^ 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, 524
16. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. vida
17. ^ 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. vida