vitória

Forms

vitória f (plural vitórias)^[1] Medieval texts write vitoria, uictoria, uitorya, vytoria and vitorea.^[2][3] Bluteau (1712–1728) heads the word victôria, ou vitoria, and Morais (1789) victoria.^[4][5] Wiktionary lists victória and vitoria as other spellings.^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin victōria (“victory”), written Old Galician-Portuguese vitoria and Old Galician-Portuguese uictoria in the 14th century.^[2][6][1] Nascentes counts it as semi-learned.^[7] The same Latin word is the source of Galician vitoria and French victoire.^[1][8]

In Latin it is formed from victor (“conqueror”), a derivative of vincō (“to conquer, overcome”).^[9][10][1] The verb goes back to Proto-Italic *winkō, from a nasal-infix present of Proto-Indo-European *weyk- (“to overcome”), which is also the root of Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌰𐌽 (weihan, “to fight”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A chronicle of 1344 speaks of aquella grande vitoria que lhe dera “that great victory he had given him”.^[3] In the Galician Crónica Troyana a speaker wishes que a uitoria seia uosa “that the victory may be yours”, and the Miragres de Santiago use the word for victory over the vices, in lume da uitoria “light of victory”.^[3] The sense is military from the start, with a spiritual use beside it.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa's dictionary of 1611 has alcançar vitoria “to win a victory”.^[11] Bluteau (1712–1728) defines it as the glorious advantage one enemy gains over another in war, and recalls that the Romans worshipped Victory as a goddess.^[4] Morais (1789) gives “defeat of the enemy” and the figurative victory over the passions.^[5]

From war the word spread to sport and to success of any kind, and by metonymy to a statue of Victory.^[2][12] It is also an exclamation of triumph.^[13][12] In popular use vitória was a name for the British gold sovereign or pound sterling.^[14][15] As Vitória it is a woman's name and the name of the capital of Espírito Santo in Brazil.^[1]

Timeline

• 14th century – vitoria, uictoria, uitorya.^[2][6] Vitorioso is recorded in the same century.^[16]
• 1344 – grande vitoria in a chronicle.^[3]
• c. 1465 – vitoria in the Vida de São João Clímaco (witness 1430–1500).^[17]
• 1544 – vytorya in a private letter.^[18]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders vitoria by Latin victoria.^[19]
• 1611 – Barbosa has alcançar vitoria.^[11]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau heads the word victôria.^[4]
• 1813 – first record of vitoriar “to acclaim”.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. victory, the defeat of an enemy or opponent in a war, a battle or a contest: A equipa celebrou a vitória até de madrugada.^[2][20][1]
2. Success in overcoming a difficulty, the result of effort.^[2][13]
3. (figurative) Any success or advantage.^[2][20]
4. A statue representing Victory.^[2][15]
5. (popular) The pound sterling.^[14][21]

Interjection

1. A cry of triumph.^[13][12]

Word family

• vitoriar

Related words

• vitorioso
• vencer
• Latin victōria
• Galician vitoria

Usage notes

A vitória de Pirro (Pyrrhic victory) costs the winner nearly as much as the loser, and cantar vitória means to boast of a success, sometimes before it is won.^[20][13]

Houaiss and Aurélio also record a separate noun vitória for a light four-wheeled carriage for two passengers with a folding hood, taken from English victoria (1844) and named after Queen Victoria.^[2][20][7] Houaiss notes that a quotation in the OED attributes the name to the French.^[2]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. vitória
3. ^ a b c d e 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. vitoria
4. ^ 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. victôria
5. ^ 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, 524
6. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. vitória
7. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. vitória
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. victoire
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. victōria
10. ^ 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. vincō
11. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. vitoria
12. ^ a b c 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. vitória
13. ^ a b c d 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. vitória
14. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. vitória
15. ^ 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. vitória
16. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. vitorioso
17. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. vitoria
18. ^ 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. vitória
19. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. vitoria
20. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. vitória
21. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 9550