alcatruz

Forms

alcatruz m (plural alcatruzes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Arabic القادوس (al-qādūs, “bucket of a water wheel”), with the Arabic article.^[2][3][4][1] Houaiss and Machado give the Arabic word the senses “bucket of a water wheel, bucket of a noria, funnel of a mill”.^[2][4] Corriente, Pereira and Vicente take it through Andalusian Arabic, stressed on the last syllable.^[5] Machado notes that the Vocabulista in arabico and Pedro de Alcalá write the word with a diphthong, but that only the form with a long ⟨ā⟩ explains the words of the Peninsula.^[4] Nascentes, after Cornu, sees in the ⟨r⟩ of ⟨-tr-⟩ an echo of the ⟨l⟩ of the article.^[6][7]

The same Arabic word is Old Spanish alcaduz, recorded in the Partidas of 1256–1263, later Spanish arcaduz, and Catalan caduf and catúfol.^[8][4][1]

The Arabic word is from Ancient Greek κάδος (kádos, “jar or vessel for wine and other liquids”).^[2][3][9] Wiktionary takes the Greek word for a loan from the wine trade, of Semitic origin, comparing Biblical Hebrew כד (kad, “jar”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to 1426, after Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese.^[2] Machado's earliest quotation, from a royal chancery document of 1456 on Morocco, records a payment por conpra de dezoito alcatruzes “for the purchase of eighteen alcatruzes”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word named the pots tied to the rope or wheel of a nora that bring up water, and by 1533 also a length of pipe for water.^[2] Barbosa's dictionary of 1611 glosses it with the Latin words for a pipe and an aqueduct.^[10] A bead shaped like such a pot was strung in old necklaces: Machado quotes the Crónica Geral for a colar dos alcatruzes “collar of alcatruzes”, and Morais lists the sense in 1789.^[4][11] Moralists made the noria an image of fortune, whose men are alcatruzes, uns cheios, outros vasios “alcatruzes, some full, others empty”, as Vieira quotes from D. Francisco Manuel de Melo.^[12]

The plural is used in Portugal for big, heavy, badly made boots, and the original Caldas Aulete records alcatruz for a drinking cup in Beira.^[2][13][14] In the Algarve it is the clay pot set to catch octopus, and in Brazil the bucket of a dredger.^[1][15] Cunha dates the verb alcatruzar to the 17th century.^[3]

Timeline

• 1426 – first record, according to Houaiss after Cunha's medieval index.^[2]
• 1456 – dezoito alcatruzes in a royal chancery document.^[4]
• 1533 – Houaiss's first date for the sense “water pipe”.^[2]
• 1611 – Barbosa glosses it as a pipe or aqueduct.^[10]
• 17th century – first record of alcatruzar.^[3]
• 1755 – Folqman glosses it as a clay bucket.^[16]
• 1789 – Morais describes the noria pot and the bead of old necklaces.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. Each of the pots of clay, wood or metal fixed to the wheel of a nora (noria) that lift water from a well: A nora já não tinha metade dos alcatruzes.^{[2][17][18][1]}
2. A length of pipe for carrying water (manilha).^[2][18][1]
3. (Algarve) A clay pot used to catch octopus.^[1]
4. (Brazil, nautical) The bucket of a dredger.^[15][1]
5. (archaic) A piece shaped like such a pot, used in old necklaces and other goldsmith's work.^[2][17]
6. (Portugal, regional, in the plural) Big, heavy, coarse boots.^[2][13][1]

Word family

• alcatruzar

Related words

• nora
• Spanish arcaduz

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. alcatruz
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. alcatruz
4. ^ a b c d e f g Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. alcatruz
5. ^ Corriente, Federico; Pereira, Christophe; Vicente, Ángeles (2019), Dictionnaire des emprunts ibéro-romans: emprunts à l'arabe et aux langues du monde islamique (Encyclopédie linguistique d'Al-Andalus 3), Berlin: De Gruyter, p. s.v. alcaduz
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. alcatruz
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 16
8. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 315
9. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. κάδος
10. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. alcatruz
11. ^ a b 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, 53
12. ^ 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, 279
13. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 418
14. ^ 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. alcatruz
15. ^ a b 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. alcatruz
16. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. alcatruz
17. ^ 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. alcatruz
18. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. alcatruz