virulento

Forms

virulento (feminine virulenta, masculine plural virulentos, feminine plural virulentas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin virulentus (“full of poison, venomous”), recorded from 1670.^[2][3][4][1] Nascentes calls it a learned word.^[5] The Latin adjective is formed from vīrus (“slime, venom, poison”) with the suffix -ulentus (“full of”);^[6][1] Gellius used it of snakes and of a speech full of bitter abuse.^[6][1]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Indo-European *wisós (“poison, slime”), the source also of Sanskrit विष (viṣá) and Ancient Greek ἰός (iós, “poison”).^[7][1] The same Latin word is Spanish virulento, Galician virulento, Catalan virulent, French virulent and Italian virulento.^[8][1] The French word was taken from Latin in the 15th century, first of a festering ulcer.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to 1670.^[2] Bluteau's dictionary gives it as a surgeon's term: a chaga virulenta is a wound with a thin, acrid humour that eats away the skin and flesh, and he quotes a surgery book by Ferreira: A chaga Virulenta he facil de conhecer “the virulent wound is easy to recognise”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Morais's dictionary of 1813 defines it simply as a medical term, “having a virus”, that is, a poison.^[11] Vieira (1871–1874) adds the figurative sense, used of speeches and writings and of people.^[12] With the modern meaning of vírus, the word came to mean caused by a virus and, of germs, highly able to cause disease.^[2][4][13]

Timeline

• 1670 – first record.^[2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau gives it as a surgeon's term, chaga virulenta.^[10]
• 1813 – Morais defines it as a medical term.^[11]
• 1836 – Constâncio's dictionary lists it, Cunha's first date.^[3]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira records the figurative sense.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Marked by virulence; of a wound or sore, infected and corrosive.^[2][14]
2. (microbiology) Able to multiply in an organism and cause disease; highly pathogenic: uma estirpe muito virulenta.^[2][4][13]
3. Containing a virus or poison; venomous.^[2][4][15]
4. Caused by a virus.^[2][4][16]
5. (figurative) Full of hatred, rancour or violence: uma crítica virulenta.^{[2][4][15][1]}

Related words

• vírus
• virulência
• viroso

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. virulento
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. vírus
4. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. virulento
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. virulento
6. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. virulentus
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. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. virulento
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. virulent
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. virulento
11. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 857
12. ^ a b Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 5, 965
13. ^ 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. virulento
14. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 9536
15. ^ a b 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. virulento
16. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. virulento