agulha

Forms

agulha f (plural agulhas)^[1] Houaiss records agulia in a Latin charter of 1012, agulla in the 13th century and agulha from the 14th.^[2] Cunha dates agulla to the 13th century and agulha to the 14th.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin acūcula (“little needle”), a diminutive of Latin acus (“needle, pin”), and is written Old Galician-Portuguese agulla in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] Houaiss and Machado star the Latin form and give it a long ū in the second syllable, the form the Romance languages need rather than the one written in Latin texts.^[2][4] The DCECH explains the long vowel as natural in a diminutive of a fourth-declension noun, and Machado adds the influence of acūtus (“sharp”).^[5][4] Wiktionary dates the Latin diminutive from the 4th century.^[1]

The same diminutive gave Galician agulla, Spanish aguja, Catalan agulla, Occitan agulha, French aiguille and Italian agucchia “knitting needle”.^[6] The simple Latin word survives in Romanian ac and Italian ago, while the languages north of Italy and in the west generalised the diminutive.^[7][5] Wiktionary traces the Latin noun to Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp, pointed”).^[1]

Vieira described the sound changes in 1871: the first c was voiced to g, as in amigo from amicus, the vowel after it was lost, and the resulting cl became ⟨lh⟩, as in navalha.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Latin charter of 1012 has the Romance form agulia in a list of goods given “down to the smallest needle” (usque ad minima agulia).^[4] In Galician-Portuguese the word first appears in the Cantigas de Santa Maria, where a needle lodges crosswise in someone's throat (travessou-xe-lle a agulla na garganta).^[9][3] The sense there is the sewing needle.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa's dictionary of 1611 already has agulha de marear, the mariner's compass, and a fish called agulha.^[10] Machado cites the sense “compass” from a navigation diary of 1597 and thinks it may reflect Italian aguglia, while the sense “movable rail” is modern and probably came through French.^[4]

Morais's dictionary of 1813 lists the hand of a clock, a Brazilian fish, the withers of a beast of burden, a plant called agulha de pastor, a pointed obelisk and the knitting needle.^[11] Figueiredo (1899) adds the magnetic needle, the tip of a bell tower, the railway points and the firing pin of a gun.^[12] Today the word also names the hypodermic needle, and in Portugal a pleasant sharpness in some wines.^[13][14]

Old Tupi borrowed the word as agûi and abi.^[1]

Timeline

• 1012 – agulia in a Latin charter.^[4]
• 13th century – agulla in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[3][9]
• 14th century – first record of the spelling agulha.^[2][3]
• c. 1430 – agulha in the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437).^[15]
• 1569 – Cardoso's Portuguese–Latin dictionary glosses Agulha with Latin acus.^[16]
• 1597 – agulha “compass” in a navigation diary of the India route.^[4]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists agulha de marear and the fish agulha.^[10]
• 1813 – Morais adds the hand of a clock.^[11]
• 1871 – Vieira's dictionary, the first record Houaiss gives for agulha as a short name of the needlefish.^[2]
• 1899 – Figueiredo lists the railway points.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A needle for sewing: a thin pointed rod of steel with an eye for the thread at the other end.^[2][17][1]
2. A knitting needle or crochet hook, used for knitting, lace and other work in thread or wool.^[2][17]
3. The needle of a sewing machine, with its eye near the point.^[2][18]
4. A hollow needle for injections and punctures.^[13]
5. The pointer of a clock or measuring instrument; the magnetic needle of a bússola.^[17][13][1]
6. (rail transport) A set of movable rails that switches a train from one track to another; points.^[13][1]
7. The pointed top of a tower, obelisk (obelisco) or mountain; a spire.^[14][1]
8. (botany) A pine needle.^[1]
9. (figurative) The trade of a seamstress or tailor.^[13][14]
10. (oenology) A pleasant piquant taste of certain wines.^[14][1]
11. (zoology) Short for peixe-agulha, the needlefish.^[2][17]

Word family

• agulhada
• agulhão
• agulheiro
• agulheta

Related words

• Galician agulla
• Spanish aguja

Usage notes

Houaiss also has agulha as a short name for arroz-agulha, a variety of rice with long thin grains.^[2] The phrase procurar agulha em palheiro “to look for a needle in a haystack” is recorded by the original Caldas Aulete.^[19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. agulha
3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. agulha
4. ^ 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. agulha
5. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 86
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. *acucula
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. acus
8. ^ 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, 248
9. ^ a b c 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. agulla
10. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. agulha
11. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 72
12. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. agulha
13. ^ a b c d e Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 369
14. ^ a b c d Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. agulha
15. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. agulha
16. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. agulha
17. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. agulha
18. ^ 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. agulha
19. ^ 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. agulha