almoço

Forms

almoço m (plural almoços, metaphonic)^[1] The old form is almorço, which Cunha records in the 15th century and which was still in use from the 16th to the 18th.^[2][3] Bluteau (1712–1728) heads the word almoço, ou almorço.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *admordium (“a bite, light meal”), written Old Galician-Portuguese almorço in the old language.^[5][2][6][1] The Vulgar Latin noun comes from Latin admordeō (“to bite into, begin to eat”).^[5][2][6][1] Machado thinks the Vulgar Latin noun was formed on the model of prandium (“lunch”).^[6] The Latin verb is formed from ad- and mordeō (“to bite”).^[7] The ⟨r⟩ of the old form was later lost.^[5][2]

The same Vulgar Latin word is Galician almorzo and Spanish almuerzo, which is recorded from about 1295.^[3][1][8] Corominas explains the ⟨al-⟩ as the change of ⟨am-⟩ to ⟨alm-⟩, very common in Spanish and Portuguese, and rejects Meyer-Lübke's dialect form *armordium.^[3] The DLE instead explains the Spanish word as the Arabic article joined to morsus (“a bite”).^[9] Porto Editora and Figueiredo derive the Portuguese word from the participle admorsus.^[10][11]

Older writers proposed an Arabic article with the same Latin noun (Bluteau, after Covarrubias in Vieira's report) or a German origin (Constâncio).^[4][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to the 14th century from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese.^[5] Machado finds it as a personal name in 1340.^[6] The Livro das tres vertudes (a witness from after 1450) has almorço.^[13] The earliest sense was a light meal eaten in the morning, as in Spanish.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Cardoso (1569) and Folqman (1755) gloss the word with Latin ientaculum “breakfast”.^[14][15] Bluteau (1712–1728) defines it as what is eaten in the morning, and Vieira (1871–1874) as the meal taken on getting up.^[4][12] Vieira also records the slang sense “the first setback of the day”.^[12] Figueiredo (1899) still calls it the first meal of the day, usually in the morning.^[11]

The meal later moved to midday, and today almoço is lunch; the morning meal is pequeno-almoço in Portugal.^[5][16] The old sense “breakfast” lives on in rural Portugal.^[5][17] The word passed into the creoles: almusu in Kabuverdianu, almosu in Guinea-Bissau Creole and in Tetum.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – the verb almorçar is recorded.^[2]
• 1340 – Almoço as a personal name.^[6]
• 14th century – first record of the noun.^[5]
• after 1450 – almorço in the Livro das tres vertudes.^[13]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses Almoço with Latin ientaculum “breakfast”.^[14]
• 16th century – first record of the verb almoçar.^[2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau heads it almoço, ou almorço, the morning meal.^[4]
• 1899 – Figueiredo still defines it as the first meal of the day.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. lunch: the first substantial meal of the day, usually at or soon after midday: Saímos para almoçar às duas, depois de um almoço tardio.^[5][16][1]
2. The food served at that meal: O almoço arrefeceu na mesa.^[5][16]
3. (figurative) The first event of the day.^[5][16]
4. (figurative) Something quick and easy.^[5][18]
5. (Portugal, regional) The first meal of the day, eaten in the morning; breakfast.^[5][17][1]

Word family

• almoçar
• almoçador
• almoção
• pequeno-almoço

Related words

• morder
• Galician almorzo
• Spanish almuerzo

Usage notes

In Brazil the plural is pronounced with closed /o/ (almoços /ô/), in Portugal mostly with open /ɔ/.^[16] The noun is distinct from almoço with open /ɔ/, “I have lunch”, a form of almoçar.^[18] Brazilian phrases include almoço comercial, a cheap set lunch, and almoço ajantarado, a late lunch that replaces dinner.^[5][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. almoço
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 204
4. ^ 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. almoço
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. almoço
6. ^ a b c d e Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. almoço
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. admordeo
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. admordium
9. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. almuerzo
10. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 488
11. ^ a b c Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. almoço
12. ^ a b c 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, 324
13. ^ a b Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. almorço
14. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. almoço
15. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. almoço
16. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. almoço
17. ^ a b Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. almoço
18. ^ 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. almoço