visagem

Forms

visagem f (plural visagens)^[1][2] Bluteau heads it visâgem.^[3] Houaiss records the spelling viságe in 1858.^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French visage (“face”), which Bluteau already pointed out.^[1][4][5][3] The French word is formed from Old French vis (“face”) with the suffix -age.^[1][6]

Meyer-Lübke and Nascentes's fuller dictionary take the Portuguese word instead from Old Occitan visatge, the Provençal equivalent, and Porto Editora derives it from that word through French.^[7][8][9] García de Diego also gives the Provençal source, beside Spanish visaje (“grimace”).^[10]

The Old French noun continues Latin vīsus (“sight; appearance”), which meant “face” in Late Latin.^[1] That noun belongs to videō (“to see”).^[11] The same Latin noun gave Spanish viso, Galician viso and Italian viso (“face”).^[7][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the first record to about 1543, in the old senses “face” and “visor of a helmet”;^[13] Cunha's first date is only 1873.^[1][4] Pereira's dictionary of 1697 already glosses it with the Latin gesticulatio, a grimace or gesture.^[13]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau explained that among the Portuguese visagens were faces, a change of expression according to the passion of the mind.^[3] Vieira labelled the senses “face” and “visor of a helmet” antiquated and kept the plural “grimaces”.^[14] In architecture the word names a carved face or head on a fountain or a church front.^[1][15]

In Brazil it came to mean a supernatural apparition, a ghost, a sense the dialect surveys record in Pará.^[1][16][17] Brazilian slang also has fazer visagem “to show off”.^[1][16]

Timeline

• c. 1543 – first record.^[1]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses it gesticulatio.^[13]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau derives it from French visage.^[3]
• 1858 – the spelling viságe.^[1]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira labels the senses “face” and “visor” antiquated.^[14]
• 1873 – Cunha's first date.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A grimace, a twisting of the face or a facial expression; careta.^[1][16][15]
2. (architecture) A carved face or head ornamenting a fountain or a church front; carranca.^[1][2]
3. (Brazil) A supernatural apparition, a ghost, assombração.^[1][16][18]
4. (Brazil, slang) Exaggerated gestures made to impress others.^[16][18]
5. (obsolete) The face.^[1][15]
6. (obsolete) The visor of a helmet.^[1][15]

Related words

• viseira
• French visage
• Latin vīsus
• Spanish visaje

Usage notes

The Brazilian phrase fazer visagem means to show off and draw attention to oneself.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. visagem
2. ^ a b 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. visagem
3. ^ a b c d Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. visâgem
4. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. visagem
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. visagem
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. visage
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9384
8. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 527
9. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 9536
10. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. visus
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. video
12. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
13. ^ a b c 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. visagem
14. ^ 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
15. ^ a b c d Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. visagem
16. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. visagem
17. ^ 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. visagem
18. ^ 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. visagem