agro

agro¹ field

Etymology tree of agro¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin ager

Portuguese agro

Romanian agru

Italian agro

From the same root · agro¹

Latin agellus ← ager

Latin agrārius ← ager

Latin agrestis ← ager

Latin agricola ← ager

Latin agricultiō ← ager

Latin agricultor ← ager

Latin agrimēnsor ← ager

Latin agripeta ← ager

Latin peragrō ← ager

Pronunciation

• Brazil: /ˈa.ɡɾu/^[4]
• Portugal: /ˈa.ɡɾu/, [ˈa.ɣɾu]^[4]
• Portugal, Southern: /ˈa.ɡɾu/^[4]

Forms

agro m (plural agros)^[4]

Etymology

The word for the field is inherited from Latin ager (“field, piece of land”), written Old Galician-Portuguese agro in the oldest texts.^[1][5][3] Wiktionary gives it as a learned borrowing from the Latin word, or else from the Old Galician-Portuguese noun.^[4]

Spanish agro is a learned word, first recorded in 1645;^[6] Corominas notes that it became a popular word in Galicia.^[6] The REW gives Romanian agru as an inherited outcome of the Latin word.^[7]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Italic *agros and Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵros (“uncultivated field, pasture”).^[8][4] It is cognate with Ancient Greek ἀγρός (agrós) and Old English æcer.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Latin charter of 906 already has the Romance noun beside its plural, inter agra argirizi et agro ubi … habitat “between the fields of Argirizi and the field where … lives”.^[9] Machado records it in the Inquirições of 1258, in a list where Agra is also a place name.^[5] In Galician-Portuguese charters it appears in 1259 as un agro que jaz “a field that lies …”, and in 1272 as agrro.^[9] One of the Cantigas de Santa Maria has se ora podesses yr / ao agro a teu amo “if you could now go to the field to your master”.^[9][2] Houaiss dates the word to the 13th century.^[1]

Semantic evolution

The medieval word meant an enclosed piece of farmland, usually a single property.^[10][9] Bluteau (1712–1728) still defined it as fruitful land, with quotations from the Monarquia Lusitana and Rodrigues Lobo, and Morais (1789) as arable land, with agro do Senhor Deos from Barros.^[11][12] The old Caldas Aulete explains this figure, o agro do Senhor, as the souls to be cultivated for religion.^[13]

Aurélio and Houaiss mark the noun as archaic, but the DLP records a regional use in the Alentejo for the yield of the crops and livestock of an estate.^[14][1][15] The word lives on in many place names.^[5]

Timeline

• 906 – agro inside a Latin charter.^[9]
• 1258 – agro in the Inquirições.^[5]
• 1259 – un agro que jaz in a Galician-Portuguese charter.^[9]
• 13th century – ao agro in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[9][2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines agro as fruitful land.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais has agro “arable land” and the phrase agro do Senhor.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (archaic) A field; land that is cultivated or can be cultivated.^{[1][14][15][4]}
2. (Alentejo) The yield of the crops and livestock of an herdade.^[15]

agro² sour

Pronunciation

• Brazil: /ˈa.ɡɾu/^[4]
• Portugal: /ˈa.ɡɾu/, [ˈa.ɣɾu]^[4]
• Portugal, Southern: /ˈa.ɡɾu/^[4]

Forms

agro (feminine agra, masculine plural agros, feminine plural agras)^[4]

Etymology

The word for “sour” is inherited from Vulgar Latin ācrus (“sharp, sour”), the classical adjective Latin ācer (“sharp, pungent”) moved from the third declension to the second.^[1][2][4] The Appendix Probi already condemns the accusative of the Vulgar Latin form.^[16][17]

The same Vulgar Latin form gave Romanian acru, Italian agro, French aigre, Catalan agre and Old Spanish agro.^[18] The Old Spanish word was replaced by Spanish agrio, altered under the influence of the verb agriar; the older form is first recorded in 1251.^[19][20] Galician uses agre.^[21]

The Latin adjective comes from Proto-Italic *akris and Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱrós (“sharp”), and is cognate with Ancient Greek ἄκρος (ákros, “highest, outermost”).^[8][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record that Lorenzo's chronology gives is the chronicle of 1344, as arvores que som agras “the trees that are sour”.^[9] Houaiss dates the adjective to the same year, and Cunha to the 14th century.^[1][2]

Semantic evolution

From the taste of unripe fruit the word passed to anything harsh: Morais (1813) gives the figurative senses “unpleasant, hard to bear” and montes, caminhos agros “rugged mountains and paths, hard to climb”.^[22] Vieira lists “steep, rough, arduous, rigorous” as figurative senses in 1871.^[23] Bluteau quotes the proverb O gosto danado julga o doce por agro “a spoilt palate takes the sweet for sour”.^[11]

Used as a noun it means sourness, and figuratively grief or bitterness; in popular speech in Portugal it is also the part of a fruit near the stalk, which gets less sun and stays less sweet.^[15][24] Medieval Portuguese already formed agraço (first as agraz, the juice of unripe grapes) and agrura from it.^[2][25][26]

Timeline

• 13th century – agraz “verjuice”, the oldest derivative.^[2][25]
• 1344 – as arvores que som agras in a chronicle.^[9][1]
• c. 1430 – agro in the Horto do Esposo.^[27]
• 15th century – first record of agrura.^[26]
• 16th century – first record of agrodoce.^[2]
• 1813 – Morais records the figurative senses “harsh” and “rugged”.^[22]

Meanings

Adjective

1. sour, acrid, acid: Estas laranjas ainda estão agras.^{[1][14][15][4]}
2. (figurative) Hard, arduous, severe: uma agra tarefa.^[1][14][4]
3. (figurative) Painful, sorrowful.^[1][15]
4. (figurative) Rough, steep, hard to cross or climb (ground, a path).^[1][15][4]

Noun

1. Sourness, acid taste;^[1][15][24] (figurative) bitterness, agrura, grief.^[1][15][24]
2. (Portugal, popular) The part of a fruit next to the stalk, less sweet than the rest.^[15]

Word family

• agraço
• agrura
• agridoce
• agrodoce