Senhor


Senhor, from the Latin Senior, is the Portuguese word for lord, sir or mister. Its feminine form is senhora. The term is related to Spanish señor, Catalan senyor, Occitan sénher, French seigneur, and Italian signore.
Originally it was only used to designate a feudal lord or sire, as well as being one of the names of God. With time its usage spread and, as means of differentiation, noble people began to use Senhor Dom X, which translates literally in English as "The Lord, Lord X".
In 1597, King Philip I issued a decree standardizing the noble styles in use in the Kingdom of Portugal. Sua Senhoria was the prescribed manner of address to archbishops, bishops, dukes and their children, marquises, counts, the Prior of Crato, viceroys and governors, and other high authorities of the Kingdom.
Presently it is used in the same context as mister, or as a way of saying a formal "you". In formal contexts o senhor, a senhora, os senhores and as senhoras are preferred. However, there is considerable regional variation in the use of these terms, and more specific forms of address are sometimes employed. O senhor and a senhora are the most ceremonious forms of address. English speakers may find the latter construction akin to the parliamentary convention of referring to fellow legislators in the third person, although the level of formality conveyed by o senhor is not as great. In fact, variants of o senhor and a senhora with more nuanced meanings such as o professor, o colega and o pai are also employed as personal pronouns. Often senhor is followed by another title or job description, such as doctor, engineer, teacher or professor, or police officer, thus conveying a high level of formality.
Traditionally, but not presently, the feminine form senhora was only used for a married woman.