violento

Forms

violento (feminine violenta, masculine plural violentos, feminine plural violentas, comparable, comparative mais violento, superlative o mais violento or violentíssimo, diminutive violentinho)^[1] Houaiss records the 15th-century spelling uiolemtos.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin violentus (“impetuous, violent”), a learned word.^[1][2][3] The OLD and de Vaan derive the Latin adjective from violō (“to violate, disturb”) with the suffix -entus.^[4][5] Wiktionary and Lewis & Short connect it directly with vīs (“strength, force”).^[1][6] De Vaan derives the verb from a deverbal adjective Proto-Indo-European *uiH-elo-, of the root *uiH- (“to strive after, chase”), while the noun goes back to *uiH-s (“strength”).^[5]

The same Latin word is Spanish violento, Galician violento, Italian violento, Catalan violent and Romanian violent.^[1][7] French borrowed violent about 1213.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the adjective to the 15th century, with the spelling uiolemtos.^[2] Cunha dates it to the 16th century, in the sense “impetuous”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau uses the word of wind, storms, torrents, anger and other furious passions, and of a man easily carried away by anger.^[10] He also records the sense “not natural”: to die a morte violenta is to die not of illness or old age.^[10] Folqman (1755) has the phrase pôr mãos violentas em alguém “to lay violent hands on someone”, which Morais (1789) explains as mistreating someone against the law.^[11][12] Morais also adds “that compels and forces”.^[12] The legal sense “contrary to right and justice” is in Silva Bastos (1912) and in the modern dictionaries.^[13][2] In one Brazilian regional source the word is recorded as an adverb meaning “quickly”.^[14]

Timeline

• 15th century – first records, spelt uiolemtos.^[2]
• 16th century – Cunha's first date, in the sense “impetuous”.^[9]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau records morte violenta “unnatural death”.^[10]
• 1755 – Folqman gives pôr mãos violentas em alguém.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais adds “that compels and forces”.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Happening with great force or intensity: uma tempestade violenta.^[2][15][1]
2. Using brute force; brutal.^[2][1]
3. Having great power to attack or destroy, as an animal or a weapon.^[2]
4. Immoderate, vehement: um protesto violento contra a nova lei.^[2][15]
5. Agitated, rough, tumultuous, as the sea.^[2][15]
6. Quick to lose control; irascible, hot-tempered.^[2][15][1]
7. Contrary to right and justice.^[2][15]
8. Of a death: caused by force or by an accident, not natural.^[2][1]

Word family

• violentar
• violentamente
• violentador
• violentação

Related words

• violência
• violar
• Latin violentus
• Spanish violento

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. violento
3. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. violento
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. violentus
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. violentus
7. ^ Estraviz, Isaac Alonso, Dicionário Estraviz, https://estraviz.org, p. s.v. violento
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. violent
9. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. violar
10. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. violento
11. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. violento
12. ^ a b c 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, 528
13. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. violento
14. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. violento
15. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. violento