voz

Forms

voz f (plural vozes)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote voz and uoz, plural vozes or uozes;^[2][3] Houaiss records uox in the 15th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vōx (“voice”), written Old Galician-Portuguese voz in the oldest texts.^[2][4][5][1]

The same Latin word is Galician voz, Spanish voz, Catalan veu, French voix, Italian voce and Romanian boace.^[6][7]

The Latin word goes back to *wōks and *wṓkʷs (“speech, voice”), a root noun with the o-grade of *wekʷ- (“to speak”).^[1][8] Its cognates include वाच् (vā́c, “voice, speech”) and ὄψ (óps, “voice”).^[1][8] In Latin the same root gave vocō (“to call”), the source of learned Portuguese words such as vocação and vocal.^[8][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's earliest date, 978 for the form uoz, is taken from Machado, from the time when documents were still written in Latin.^[2] In the 13th-century Cantigas de Santa Maria vẽo voz de ceo “a voice came from heaven”, and dar vozes or meter vozes means “to shout, cry out”.^[3] The satirical cantigas use voz for a lawsuit: Alfonso X advises against en voz entrar, going to law with someone.^[3][9]

Semantic evolution

Besides the sound of the human voice, the medieval word had several legal senses, which Viterbo's Elucidário collects from old documents: the commission or mandate to act for someone else, the judgement given in a case, and, in leases for several lives, each of the successive holders;^[10] voz e coima named certain dues.^[10] From the sense “representation” came vozeiro and vozeira “advocate, intercessor”, recorded in the 13th century.^[4][10]

Morais (1789) records the senses that lead to the modern language: the sound of a musical instrument, viva voz “by word of mouth” as against writing, a vote or opinion (ter voz “to have the right to vote”, voz activa and voz passiva in elections), a rumour (correu voz), a word, and the active and passive voice of the verb in grammar.^[11] Musical senses, the part of a composition written for one voice or instrument, followed.^[2][12]

Timeline

• 978 – Houaiss's earliest date, for the form uoz.^[2]
• 13th century – voz and vozes in the Cantigas de Santa Maria and the satirical cantigas;^[3][4][2] vozeira “advocate” in the same century.^[3][4][2]
• 1298 – a document from Lamego uses voz for a court's judgement.^[10]
• c. 1400 – voz in the Flos Sanctorum fragment of Santiago de Compostela.^[13]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders Voz by Latin vox.^[14]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists dar vozes, voz alta and voz bayxa.^[15]
• 1789 – Morais records the grammatical voice and voz activa and voz passiva.^[11]
• 1890 – first record of vozeirão “a very loud voice”.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. voice, the sound produced by the vocal cords in speaking, singing, laughing and so on: Tem uma voz grave.^[2][16][1]
2. The ability to speak; speech: ficar sem voz.^[2][12][1]
3. A cry of protest, complaint or appeal; outcry.^[2][16]
4. A rumour, a piece of news going round: É voz corrente que...^[2][12]
5. The right to speak or give an opinion; a say: ter voz e voto.^[2][16]
6. An order given aloud, as in voz de prisão or a military command.^[16][12]
7. (figurative) An inner prompting: a voz da consciência.^[17][12]
8. (grammar) Voice, the verbal category that shows whether the subject acts or is acted on: voz ativa, voz passiva.^[2][16][1]
9. (music) A vocal or instrumental part in a composition; the range of a singer's voice.^[2][16]

Word family

• vozeirão
• vozearia
• vozear
• vozeiro

Related words

• vocação
• vocal
• vogal
• vociferar
• vocativo
• Latin vōx
• Galician voz

Usage notes

A uma voz “with one voice” means unanimously, a phrase already in the medieval Miragres de Santiago and recorded by Morais.^[3][11] Dar vozes “to shout” is recorded from the cantigas to Morais.^[3][11]

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 l m n o Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. voz
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. voz
4. ^ a b c d e f Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. voz
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. voz
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. vox
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. vox
8. ^ a b c 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. vōx
9. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. voz
10. ^ a b c d Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 410
11. ^ a b c d 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, 536
12. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. voz
13. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. voz
14. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. voz
15. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. voz
16. ^ a b c d e f Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 9583
17. ^ 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. voz