óleo

Forms

óleo m (plural óleos)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote oyo in the 13th century, oleo, olio and oolio in the 14th, and holio and ollyo in the 15th.^[2][3] Feijó in 1734 still had to insist on óleo, not olio.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin oleum (“olive oil”).^[2][3][1] The medieval forms include Old Galician-Portuguese oyo, Old Galician-Portuguese olio and Old Galician-Portuguese oolio.^[2][3] Meyer-Lübke, as Nascentes reports, held Spanish óleo and French huile to be learned forms like the Portuguese, because the word kept three syllables: its /e/ did not become a glide that would have palatalised the /l/, as in palha.^[5] The popular Portuguese word for olive oil is azeite.^[5][6]

The Latin noun comes from an older olīvum.^[7] It is from Ancient Greek ἔλαιον (élaion, “olive oil”), from ἐλαία (elaía, “olive; olive tree”).^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A miracle of the Cantigas de Santa Maria tells how the Virgin of Ribela will not let any oil burn before her altar senon d'olivas “unless it is of olives”, clear and well refined: non quer que arza outr'oyo ant'o seu altar.^[8] The Miragres de Santiago have olio for oil to anoint oneself with, and for oil of balsam, myrtle or olive burnt in lamps.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Nascentes notes that the word first meant olive oil, that after the Arab rule azeite took its place in that sense, and that it was later widened to other oils, including mineral ones.^[6] Morais in 1813 defines it as a rich, unctuous liquid drawn from plants by fire or pressing, and records the Santos Óleos of the sacraments and the figurative óleo da Graça.^[10] Vieira lists oil of almonds, of linseed and of cod liver.^[11] The noun oleado “oilcloth” is recorded in 1813.^[3]

Brazilian Portuguese uses it for petroleum, and informally for sugar-cane spirit and for money; it is also the name of the copaíba trees, whose bark holds a medicinal oil.^[2][12][13] In art it means an oil painting.^[2][1]

Timeline

• 13th century – oyo in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[8][2]
• 14th century – oleo, olio and oolio.^[2][3]
• c. 1430 – oleo and olio in the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437).^[14][15]
• 15th century – holio and ollyo.^[2]
• 1593 – olio in a private letter.^[16]
• 1734 – Feijó prescribes óleo instead of olio.^[4]
• 1813 – Morais records the Santos Óleos; first record of oleado.^[10][3]
• 1871 – Vieira lists oils of almonds, linseed and cod liver.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fatty substance, liquid at ordinary temperature, of vegetable, animal or mineral origin; oil: frita o peixe em óleo bem quente.^[2][17][1]
2. olive oil.^[1]
3. (Brazil) petroleum.^[2][12]
4. An oily perfume; an essential oil.^[12][1]
5. (art) A painting in oils; oil paint.^[2][17][1]
6. (Brazil, informal) Sugar-cane spirit, cachaça.^[2][12]
7. (Brazil, informal) money.^[2][12]
8. (botany) A name for several trees of the genus Copaifera, the copaíbas, whose bark yields a medicinal oil.^[2][13]

Word family

• oleado
• oleoso
• olear

Related words

• oliva
• oliveira
• petróleo
• azeite
• Latin oleum
• Spanish óleo

Usage notes

Os Santos Óleos are the consecrated oils used in baptism, confirmation, ordination and the anointing of the sick.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. óleo
3. ^ 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. óleo
4. ^ 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. óleo
5. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 362
6. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. óleo
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b 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. oyo
9. ^ 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. olio
10. ^ a b c Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 362
11. ^ a b Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 4, 542
12. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. óleo
13. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. óleo
14. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. oleo
15. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. olio
16. ^ CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. óleo
17. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. óleo