águia

Forms

águia f (plural águias)^[1] Old texts write aguia and aguya (14th century), agia in the Crónica Troiana, and aguea in the 15th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin aquila (“eagle”), written Old Galician-Portuguese aguia and Old Galician-Portuguese aguya in the oldest texts.^[2][4][5][1] Machado notes that the word was treated in a special way in Hispania: the regular outcome of the Latin would have been *aqla, which would have given ⟨alha⟩ in Portuguese and ⟨aja⟩ in Castilian.^[5] The glossary of the Crónica Geral therefore calls it a semi-learned word.^[3] Vieira (1871–1874) explained the /ɡ/ from the Latin /kʷ/ and the loss of the medial /l/.^[6]

The same Latin word is Galician aguia, Spanish águila, Catalan àguila, French aigle, Italian aquila and Romanian aceră.^[7][8][1] De Vaan thinks it possible that the Latin noun was derived from aquilus (“dark-coloured”), the eagle being one of the largest dark birds; he rejects an explanation as a compound “swift little bird”.^[9] The OLD and Wiktionary also take it as probably from the adjective.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the 13th century.^[2][4] A cantiga of Afonso X has the lines non faça que semelhen grous / os coruos e as aguias babous, in which crows are made to look like cranes.^[5][3] Airas Perez Vuitoron names the aguia caudal beside the raven and the crow.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From the bird the word passed to the Roman standard and to other emblems, to coins bearing an eagle, and to a constellation.^[11][2] Morais (1789) records a man of high and penetrating mind as an águia, and also an old cannon of that name.^[11] Feijó (1734) distinguishes águia, the queen of birds, from águila, a scented wood from Cochinchina.^[12]

The Brazilian dictionaries note that the true eagles of the genus Aquila do not live in South America; there the word names other large birds of prey.^[13][14] In Brazil it is also group two of the jogo do bicho and, pejoratively, a sly, crafty person.^[2][15] In Portugal it stands for the Benfica sports club, whose emblem is an eagle.^[16]

Timeline

• 13th century – aguias in a cantiga of Afonso X.^[5][3]
• c. 1430 – aguya in the Horto do Esposo.^[17]
• 1344 – aguya caudal in the Crónica Geral.^[3]
• 15th century – the spelling aguea.^[2]
• 1611 – Barbosa enters Aguia, ave, with aquilinus for “of an eagle”.^[18]
• 1734 – Feijó separates águia from águila.^[12]
• 1789 – Morais records the figurative sense “man of penetrating mind”.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. An eagle: any of several large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae, with a strong hooked bill and talons.^[2][16][1]
2. An emblem, standard or flag bearing an eagle, such as the eagles of the Roman legions; an eagle in a coat of arms.^[2][19][1]
3. (figurative) A person of outstanding talent or sharp intelligence.^[2][16]
4. (figurative) A leader, a ruler.^[2][1]
5. A gold coin of some countries, such as the old gold coin of the United States.^[2][20]
6. (Brazil) Group two of the jogo do bicho.^[2]
7. (Brazil, pejorative) A sly, crafty person.^[2][15]
8. (Portugal, sport) The Benfica club, or one of its supporters.^[16]

Word family

• águia-caçadeira
• águia-calçada
• águia-cobreira
• águia-dourada
• águia-imperial-ibérica

Related words

• aquilino
• áquila
• Latin aquila
• Spanish águila

Usage notes

Written with a capital, Águia is the constellation Aquila.^[16][1]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. águia
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. aguia
4. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. águia
5. ^ a b c d Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. águia
6. ^ Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 1, 246
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 582
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. aquila
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. aquila
11. ^ a b c 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. 1, 45
12. ^ a b 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. águia
13. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. águia
14. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. águia
15. ^ a b Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. águia
16. ^ a b c d e 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. águia
17. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. aguya
18. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. aguia
19. ^ 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. águia
20. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. águia