albino

Forms

albino (feminine albina, masculine plural albinos, feminine plural albinas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish albino, a derivative of albo (“white”), according to Houaiss, Corominas and Caldas Aulete; the Spanish word is from Latin albus (“white”).^[2][3][4] Corominas writes that the Portuguese word, the French albinos (1763) and the Italian albino (1819) all come from Spanish.^[3] Cunha, Machado, the DLP and Wiktionary derive it instead from Medieval Latin albīnus (“whitish”), and Aurélio and Michaelis analyse it as albi- with the suffix -ino.^{[5][6][7][1][8]}

The Latin adjective goes back to *alfo- and *h₂elbʰ-o- (“white”); it is cognate with ἀλφός (alphós, “dull-white leprosy”).^[9] Its inherited Portuguese outcome is alvo.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to 1727, from Bluteau's dictionary, for a person with albinism.^[2] According to Etymonline, the Portuguese used the word of white-spotted Africans, and English took it over in 1777.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Vieira (1871) describes albinos as frail, light-shy people, notes that they were once thought a separate race, and lists names for them in Africa and Asia.^[12] Caldas Aulete records the popular name pretos brancos for them, explained by albinism having first been observed among Black people, and Silva Bastos the popular preto-branco.^[4][13] The derivative albinismo is recorded from 1837.^[14] The DLP extends the word to plants lacking chlorophyll or another pigment.^[7]

Timeline

• 1650–1675 – first record of Spanish albino in the DCECH.^[3] Corominas's shorter dictionary gives c. 1570.^[15]
• 1727 – Houaiss's first date for the Portuguese word, from Bluteau's dictionary.^[2]
• 1777 – English albino, from Spanish or Portuguese.^[11]
• 1837 – first record of albinismo.^[14]
• 1858 – Cunha's first date for albino.^[5]
• 1871 – Vieira describes albinism under albino.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. albino, having albinism, a congenital lack of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes: uma girafa albina.^[2][1][7]
2. (botany) Lacking chlorophyll or another pigment.^[7]

Noun

1. A person or animal with albinism.^[2][1][16]

Word family

• albinismo

Related words

• alvo
• Latin albus
• Spanish albino

Usage notes

Brazilian Portuguese has many regional and popular synonyms for an albino, among them sarará, aça or aço, gazo, barata-descascada and olho de fogo.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. albino
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 118
4. ^ 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. albino
5. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. albi-
6. ^ Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. albino
7. ^ a b c d 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. albino
8. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. albino
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. albus
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 331
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com, p. s.v. albino
12. ^ 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. 1, 270
13. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. albino
14. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. albinismo
15. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. albo
16. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. albino