Brazilian literature - Cristo Raul

i8 BRAZILIAN LITERATURE
heate^ bizarre, etc., possess a meaning quite different from
that they have in French. The Portuguese tongue
abounds in terms and phrases for the expression of im-
pulsive movements and strong actions. In Portuguese
one strikes with everything; and when the Frenchman,
for example, feels the need of adding the word coup to
the thing with which he does the striking, the Portuguese
expresses it with the word of the instrument alone.
One says, in French, tin coup de pierre; in Portuguese,
pedrada (a blow with a stone) ; un coup de couteau
is expressed in Portuguese by facada (a knife thrust)
and so on. . . .
"Without becoming unidiomatic, one rnay boldly form
superlatives and diminutives of every adjective; this is
done sometimes even with nouns. Harshness of the pro-
nunciation has accompanied the arrogance of expression.
. . . But this tongue, transported to Brazil, breathes
the gentleness of the climate and of the character of
its inhabitants ; it has gained in usage and in the expression
of tender sentiments, and while it has preserved all its
energy it possesses more amenity. . . .
"To this first difference, which embraces the generality
of the Brazilian idiom, one must add that of words which
have altogether changed in accepted meaning, as well as
several other expressions which do not exist in the Portuguese
language and which have been either borrowed
from the natives or imported into Brazil by the inhabi-
tants of the various oversea colonies of Portugal."
There follow some eight words that have changed
meaning, such, for example, as faceira, signifying lower
jaw in Portugal, but coquette in Brazil; as a matter of
fact, Ribeiro shows that the Portuguese critics who cen-