alcova

Forms

alcova f (plural alcovas)^[1] The older spelling was alcoba, and Bluteau (1712) and Folqman (1755) still give both.^[2][3][4] Vieira (1871) notes that alcoba was formerly preferred.^[5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Andalusian Arabic القبة (alqúbba), from Arabic قبة (qubba, “dome, vault”), with the agglutinated Arabic article ⟨al-⟩.^[6][7][2][1] Corriente, Pereira and Vicente record the word in Castilian, Catalan, Galician and Portuguese as “bedroom”.^[6] Houaiss and Aurélio note that the sense “small room adjoining a hall” is already Hispano-Arabic.^[7][8][9] Machado thinks the Andalusian word probably named a room of the house, the bedroom.^[7][8][9]

It has the cognate Spanish alcoba, recorded from 1272–1284.^[10][7] Corominas finds that in medieval Castilian it still meant “dome”, while the modern sense is attested in Arabic two centuries before Castilian has it, so that it did not arise in any of the three Ibero-Romance languages.^[10] Bluteau in 1712 derived it from an Arabic word meaning “cave”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Machado, Bluteau and Cunha record the word in the 17th century, spelt alcoba: Huma fermosa alcoba alli se via “A fair alcove was seen there”, in Gabriel Pereira de Castro's Ulisseia (canto III, stanza 95).^[9][2][11] Houaiss dates it from Bluteau's dictionary.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau describes the alcôva as the sheltered part of a room where the bed stands, and calls the word barbarous though necessary.^[3] Morais (1789) defines it simply as a bedchamber.^[12] Vieira adds the figurative sense “hiding place, receptacle”, quoting Frei António das Chagas on self-love que é alcova do demónio “which is the devil's alcove”.^[5] Later senses are a woman's room, a married couple's bedroom and, in the DLP, a room as the place of love affairs; in theatre it is the inner stage.^[7][13][8]

As a place name, Alcoba was an old name of part of the Serra do Caramulo in Beira.^[9][3]

Timeline

• 1272–1284 – Spanish alcoba in the General Estoria.^[10]
• 1600s – alcoba in Gabriel Pereira de Castro's Ulisseia.^[9][2]
• 1712 – Bluteau enters alcôva, ou alcoba.^[3][7]
• 1755 – Folqman heads it Alcova, ou Alcoba.^[4]
• 1789 – Morais defines alcova as a bedchamber.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small bedroom inside a house, usually without windows, opening off a larger room; an alcove.^{[7][8][13][14]}
2. A woman's room; a couple's bedroom; a room as the scene of love affairs.^[7][8][13]
3. (figurative) A refuge, shelter or hiding place.^[7][13][15]
4. (theatre) The inner stage.^[7][8]

Related words

• Spanish alcoba

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. alcova
3. ^ a b c d e Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. alcova
4. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. alcova
5. ^ 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, 284
6. ^ a b 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. alcoba
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. alcova
8. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. alcova
9. ^ a b c d e Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. alcova
10. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 135
11. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. alcoba
12. ^ 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
13. ^ 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. alcova
14. ^ 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. alcova
15. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 424