viscosidade

Forms

viscosidade f (plural viscosidades)^[1]

Etymology

Houaiss and Aurélio derive it from Medieval Latin: it is borrowed from Medieval Latin viscositas.^[2][3] Du Cange glosses that word with viscus (“birdlime”).^[4] Cunha calls it an adaptation of French viscosité, itself from the Medieval Latin word.^[5] Wiktionary and Silva Bastos analyse it as from Portuguese viscoso + -idade.^[1][6]

The Latin noun is formed on viscōsus (“sticky”), from viscum (“mistletoe; birdlime”) with the suffix -ōsus.^[1][7] Houaiss dates the noun to 1566 and the adjective only to 1661.^[2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is of 1566;^[2][5] Cunha dates it to the 16th century.^[2][5] The first definition in a dictionary is Bluteau's, a medical one: the tenacity of a sticky or glutinous humour whose parts hold so closely together that they long resist separation.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Feijó (1734) and Folqman (1755) still gloss it as a sticky humour.^[10][11] Morais (1789) gives the general sense “the quality of being viscous”.^[12] Vieira (1871–1874) defines it as the property by which the particles of a substance adhere to one another, with an example from the flow of water in a channel, and still records the medical sense of a viscous fluid of the stomach.^[13] Modern physics uses it for the resistance a fluid offers to flow, its internal friction.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1566 – first record.^[2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines it as the tenacity of a glutinous humour.^[9]
• 1755 – Folqman glosses it humor glutinosus.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais: “the quality of being viscous”.^[12]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira defines the adhesion of a substance's particles.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. viscosity: the quality or state of being viscous (viscoso); viscidez.^[2][3][1]
2. The property by which the particles of a substance stick to one another: um óleo de alta viscosidade.^[2][14]
3. A viscous substance.^[2][3]
4. (physics) The resistance a fluid offers to flow; the internal friction (atrito) of a fluid.^[2][3][1]

Related words

• viscoso
• visco
• viscidez
• Latin viscum
• French viscosité

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. viscosidade
3. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. viscosidade
4. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. s.v. viscositas
5. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. visco
6. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. viscosidade
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. viscosus
8. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. viscoso
9. ^ 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. viscosidade
10. ^ 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. viscosidade
11. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. viscosidade
12. ^ a b 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, 530
13. ^ 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, 966
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. viscosidade