açor

Forms

açor m (plural açores)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin acceptor (“hawk”), written Old Galician-Portuguese açor and Old Galician-Portuguese azor in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] Houaiss explains the Latin form as an alteration of classical accipiter (“hawk”); it occurs already in Lucilius in the sense “bird of prey”, but is common chiefly in vulgar and late texts.^[2] Lewis and Short and the OLD note that the classical word was later associated with accipiō (“to take”).^[5][6]

The same Latin word is Galician azor, Spanish azor, Catalan astor and Italian astore.^[2][3][7][1] Spanish records it as azttore in 941 and acetore in the Glosas de Silos of the 10th century.^[7]

De Vaan reconstructs the classical word as *aku-petri- (“having swift or pointed wings”), a compound of *HHḱu- (“swift”) and a word for “wing”, comparing Ancient Greek ὠκύπτερος (ōkúpteros, “swift-winged”) and Sanskrit आशुपत्वन् (āśupátvan, “flying swiftly”).^[8][1]

The sound history is not regular.^[2][3] Houaiss and Nascentes posit the intermediate forms *acetor and *açtor, and a final change perhaps due to Mozarabic influence.^[2][4] Machado starts from a Hispanic *accettor, which explains the Catalan form and Old Spanish adtor, and thinks the Mozarabs, who knew and spread Arabic falconry, pushed the outcome to the forms with ⟨z⟩ and ⟨ç⟩.^[3] The DDGM glossary of the Crónica Geral points out that an intervocalic ⟨z⟩ would be expected, and posits a metathesis of ⟨çt⟩ to ⟨tç⟩.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Latin charters already show the Romance word: Machado quotes do azor in a document dated 1142, which seems to be forged, and ad nidum de açor “to the hawk's nest” in one of 1229.^[3] In Galician-Portuguese the Cantigas de Santa Maria tell of a knight que perdera seu açor “who had lost his goshawk”, and the Crónica Troiana lists falcões et gaujães et açores among hunting birds.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The word has always named the goshawk, a hawk flown in medieval hunting; the original Caldas Aulete notes that great lords once used it widely in the chase.^[10] The Crónica Geral also uses açor for a weapon carried by a squire.^[9] Morais (1813) records açor prima for the female, the male being the treçó, and the phrase saber d'açor “to know one's subject”; the DLP still has this figurative sense.^[11][12]

Etymonline reports that the name of the Azores is said to come from this word, for the many hawks there, but considers this likely a folk etymology.^[13]

Timeline

• 1229 – a Latin charter has ad nidum de açor.^[3]
• 1200s – first Galician-Portuguese records, spelt açor and azor.^[2][9]
• c. 1430 – the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437) uses the word.^[14]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders Açor by Latin accipiter.^[15]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as a bird of prey used to hunt pigeons, partridges and hares.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. (ornithology) The goshawk, Accipiter gentilis, a diurnal bird of prey of Europe, Asia and North America, larger and stronger than the gavião.^[2][12][17]
2. (heraldry) A charge representing a goshawk.^[18]

Related words

• Latin accipiter
• Spanish azor

Usage notes

A proverb quoted by the original Caldas Aulete says em janeiro, nem galgo lebreiro nem açor perdigueiro: in January neither the hare-hound nor the partridge-hawk is any use.^[10] The plural açores is spelt like a form of the verb açorar.^[2][19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. açor
3. ^ a b c d e f Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. açor
4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. açor
5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 436
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c d 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. açor
10. ^ 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. açor
11. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 34
12. ^ 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. açor
13. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
14. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. açor
15. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. açor
16. ^ 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, 22
17. ^ 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. açor
18. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. açor
19. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. açor