égua

Forms

égua f (plural éguas, masculine cavalo, masculine plural cavalos)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote egua, egoa and ega;^[2][3][4][5] egoa was usual from the 13th century and the dictionaries head the word so until the 19th.^[2][3][4][5] Morais (1813) and Vieira (1871) still refer égua to egoa.^[6][7]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin equa (“mare”), written Old Galician-Portuguese egua and Old Galician-Portuguese egoa in the oldest texts.^[8][2][3][1] The Latin word is the feminine of equus (“horse”).^[9][10]

The same Latin word is Galician egua, Spanish yegua, Catalan egua, Occitan èga and Romanian iapă.^[11][12][1]

The Latin noun goes back to *ekwo- and Proto-Indo-European *h₁eḱ-u- (“horse”), whose cognates include epos and ech.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Latin charters of Portugal write the Romance word from the 10th century: Houaiss dates it to 958, after Machado, and the DDGM quotes una egua et uno boue “one mare and one ox” from 985.^[8][3] In Galician-Portuguese the Cantigas de Santa Maria have en sa egua veira “on her piebald mare”, and Lopo Lias begins aqueste cantar da egoa “this song of the mare”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The sense “female of the horse” has not changed.^[8][2] Figuratively the word is applied to a dull or coarse person, and in Brazil it is a vulgar term for a prostitute.^[8][13][14] Aurélio notes that in the north-east the word itself was felt as more or less obscene, so that besta and other names were used for the animal.^[8][13][14] In Pará and Maranhão égua! is an interjection of surprise or admiration.^[8][15] The word passed into Kabuverdianu as égua and Macanese as égu.^[1]

Timeline

• 958 – Houaiss's first date, taken from Machado.^[8]
• 985 – una egua et uno boue in a Latin charter.^[3]
• 13th century – egua in the Cantigas de Santa Maria;^[3][2] egoa becomes the usual spelling.^[3][2]
• 1344 – the Crónica of 1344 has muytas e boas egoas.^[3]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary heads the word Egoa.^[4]
• 1813 – Morais has égua only as a cross-reference to egoa.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mare, the female of the horse (cavalo): A égua pastava com o potro.^[8][16][1]
2. (figurative, informal) A dull, ignorant or coarse person.^[8][15]
3. (Brazil, vulgar) A prostitute.^[8][13][16]

Interjection

1. (Brazil: Pará, Maranhão, informal) Expresses surprise or admiration: Égua, que calor!^[8][13][1]

Word family

• eguada
• eguariço
• égua-madrinha

Related words

• cavalo
• equino
• Latin equa
• Spanish yegua

Usage notes

Égua madrinha is the mare with a bell round her neck that the herd follows, and figuratively a person who gathers and advises others.^[8][13] In Brazil lavar a égua means to make a large profit, or to win a game by a wide margin.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. égua
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. egoa
4. ^ a b c Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. egoa
5. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. egoa
6. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 649
7. ^ Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 3, 17
8. ^ 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. égua
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. equa
10. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2883
12. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 6, 774
13. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. égua
14. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. égua
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. égua
16. ^ a b 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. égua