vil

Forms

vil m or f (plural vis)^[1] Old texts have the plurals viis and uiles (14th century) and vyees (1391), and viill in the 15th century.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vīlis (“cheap; worthless”), written Old Galician-Portuguese vil in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] The same Latin word is Galician vil, Spanish vil, Catalan vil, French vil, Italian vile and Romanian vil.^[1][5]

De Vaan explains the Latin adjective as Proto-Italic *wesli-, from Proto-Indo-European *wes- “to buy”, with the passive sense “what can be bought”; a Hittite verb meaning “to buy” is its cognate.^[6] The expected Latin outcome would have had ⟨ē⟩ in the first syllable, and the raised vowel may be due to the labial before it.^[6] Wiktionary connects it with the root of Latin vēnum (“sale”).^[1] The DHLF, on the other hand, calls the Latin word of unknown origin.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cancioneiro da Ajuda has tẽer en vil alguem “to hold someone in contempt” and vil de pagar “easy to pay”.^[3] In a satirical song Afonso X mocks a foot soldier mal guisad' e vil “badly equipped and shabby”, and the Cantigas de Santa Maria speak of a woman who era moller mui vil “was a very base woman”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Medieval texts use the word both for worthless things and for base people and deeds, with the set phrase tẽer en vil “to despise”.^[3] The Crónica Troiana sets an honourable death against a vil one.^[3] The dictionaries of the 16th and 17th centuries gloss it as “low” and translate it with Latin abiectus, vilis and ignobilis.^[8][9] Bluteau separates a man of low birth from a man who does dishonourable deeds.^[10] The Latin sense “cheap” survives in the phrase a vil preço “at a vile price, dirt cheap”.^[11] Modern dictionaries also use the word as a noun, “a despicable person”.^[2][12]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records, in the Cancioneiro da Ajuda and the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[2][3]
• 1391 – the plural spelt vyees.^[2]
• c. 1430 – vil in the Horto do Esposo (manuscript of 1390–1437).^[13]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses it as “low”, Latin abiectus.^[8]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau separates low birth from base conduct.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of little worth; shoddy, reles.^[2][14]
2. cheap, bought for a low price.^[2][12]
3. Contemptible, without dignity; vile, infamous: uma vil mentira.^[2][12]
4. Humble, insignificant, wretched: um vil casebre.^[2][12]

Noun

1. A despicable person.^[2][12]

Word family

• vilmente
• vileza
• aviltar

Related words

• vilipendiar
• Latin vīlis

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 h i j Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. vil
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. vil
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. vil
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. vilis
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. vil
8. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. vil
9. ^ 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. vil
10. ^ 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. vil
11. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 525
12. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. vil
13. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. vil
14. ^ 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. vil