virtude

Forms

virtude f (plural virtudes)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin virtūs (“manliness; valour; moral excellence”).^[2][3][1] Both the present form and Old Galician-Portuguese vertude are found from the 13th century.^[2][3] Nascentes and Wiktionary regard the present form as the old one refashioned after the Latin word, and Nascentes notes that the form with ⟨e⟩ still lives in popular speech.^[4][1]

The same Latin word is Galician virtude, Spanish virtud, Catalan virtut, Old Occitan vertut, French vertu, Italian virtù and Romanian virtute.^[5][1] The Latin noun is formed from vir (“man”) with the suffix -tūs.^[6][1] The word for “man” goes back to Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós (“man”), the source also of Old Irish fer and Lithuanian výras (“man, husband”).^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's earliest record is a document of 1192–1193: offeyro o meu corpo aas virtudes de sam Saluador “I offer my body to the powers of the Holy Saviour”.^[8] In the Cantigas de Santa Maria the word means a miraculous power: pois na majestade viu tan gran vertude “since he saw such great power in the holy image”.^[8] Medieval Latin virtus had the same senses, the power to work miracles and the miracle itself.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa's dictionary of 1611 renders Virtude with Latin virtus and probitas, moral goodness.^[10] Bluteau begins with the natural sense, the innate power of bodies to produce their effects (the virtues of planets, plants and minerals, magnetic virtue), before the moral one.^[11] Feijó's spelling guide of 1734 sets Virtude against the popular vertude.^[12] Folqman has em virtude de “by virtue of”, rendering ex Senatus consulto, and Morais explains the phrase as “by force of the obligation” that something imposes.^[13][14]

The moral sense led to virtude for a woman's chastity, today often jocular, and for an austere way of life.^[2][15] In theology the plural names one of the orders of angels.^[16][17] The DLP records a popular sense “brandy”.^[18]

Timeline

• 1192–1193 – aas virtudes de sam Saluador in a document.^[8]
• 13th century – virtude and vertude; the Cantigas de Santa Maria write vertude.^[2][8]
• 13th century – first record of the adjective vertuoso.^[3]
• 1380–1425 – virtude in a fragment of the Flos Sanctorum.^[19]
• 1544 – a private letter still writes vertudes.^[20]
• 1611 – Barbosa renders it virtus and probitas.^[10]
• 1712 – Bluteau describes the natural virtues of bodies.^[11]
• 1755 – Folqman records em virtude de.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. virtue: a firm disposition to do good; moral excellence, rectitude (retidão).^[2][15][21]
2. A particular moral quality, such as patience, temperance or charity: A paciência nunca foi a sua maior virtude.^[2][22]
3. Any good quality or merit, of a person or a thing.^[2]
4. The power to produce an effect, efficacy (eficácia) (often in the plural): as virtudes medicinais de uma planta.^[2][15]
5. Chastity (castidade), especially of a woman (often jocular).^[2][15]
6. An austere way of life.^[2][15]
7. (philosophy) In Plato and Aristotle, the excellence proper to a being; in Aristotle, a disposition acquired by habit that seeks the mean between extremes.^[2]
8. (theology, in the plural) One of the orders of angels (anjo).^[17][16]
9. (popular) Brandy (aguardente).^[18]
10. em virtude de: by virtue of, because of.^[18][1]

Word family

• desvirtuar
• desvirtuamento
• em virtude de

Related words

• virtuosamente
• virtuose
• virtuosidade
• virtuosismo
• virtuosístico
• virtuoso
• virtual
• viril
• Latin virtūs
• Spanish virtud

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. virtude
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. virtude
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. virtude
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9371
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. virtūs
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c d 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. virtude
9. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. virtus
10. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. virtude
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. virtude
12. ^ 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. virtude
13. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. virtude
14. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 857
15. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. virtude
16. ^ a b Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. virtude
17. ^ a b 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. virtude
18. ^ a b c 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. virtude
19. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. virtude
20. ^ 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. virtude
21. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 9535
22. ^ 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. virtude