ancho

Forms

ancho (feminine ancha, masculine plural anchos, feminine plural anchas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin amplus (“large, wide, spacious”), written Old Galician-Portuguese ancho from 1257 and also Old Galician-Portuguese amcho in the 15th century.^[2][3][4][1] Houaiss and Machado call it the popular form of the Latin adjective, beside the learned amplo;^[2][5][1] Machado also finds a semi-learned Old Galician-Portuguese ampro in a Latin charter of 1111, spelt Old Galician-Portuguese anpro.^[2][5][1]

The same Latin word is Galician ancho, Spanish ancho, Catalan ample, French ample, Italian ampio and Sardinian ampru.^[6][7][1] The Latin group /mpl/ gave ⟨nch⟩, with the ⟨pl⟩ becoming ⟨ch⟩ as in chorar from plōrō and encher from impleō.^[8]

The origin of the Latin word is unclear: the DHLF calls it unknown.^[9] De Vaan tentatively reconstructs Proto-Italic *amlos (“seizable”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃emh₃- (“to grab”), but notes that the sound changes this requires are hard to explain.^[10][1] Wiktionary also gives an analysis as ambi- (“on both sides”) with an element related to plēnus (“full”).^[1]

Vieira, Silva Bastos and Figueiredo took the Portuguese word from Spanish, although Vieira granted that Duarte Nunes de Leão's derivation from Latin agrees with the sound laws.^[8][11][12] All the modern dictionaries give the Latin origin.^[2][13][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's chronology has the first record in 1257, de V palmos en ancho “five spans wide”, where the word is already a noun “width”.^[4][2] A document of 1294 quoted by Machado wants a street to remain tam ancha como ora sta “as wide as it is now”.^[5] The Cantigas de Santa Maria speak of a road ancho e chão “wide and level”, and a cantiga d'escarnho of Afonso X mocks girdles worn muit' anchas, come molheres prenhadas “very wide, like pregnant women”.^[4][15]

Semantic evolution

In the medieval language the word meant “wide”, of roads, gates, walls and clothes, and the noun “width” was used in measurements.^[4][2] By 1789 Morais found the figurative sense “puffed up with pride” more usual than the literal one, and the 1813 edition adds “large-limbed” and the noun “width”, quoting de ancho 25.^[16][17] Vieira and the first Caldas Aulete mark the literal sense as old.^[8][18] Today the figurative “conceited, full of oneself” is the common sense, and Brazilian authors such as Guimarães Rosa also use ancho as a noun “pride”.^[14][18]

In Rio Grande do Sul Schlee records the word as an archaism of Portuguese origin kept alive by contact with the Spanish of the Plate, with the senses “happy” and “conceited”.^[19] In north-eastern Portugal it is also recorded for “satisfied” and, at Freixo de Espada à Cinta, for “fat”.^[20]

Timeline

• 1111 – a semi-learned anpro in a Latin charter.^[5]
• 1257 – de V palmos en ancho.^[4][2]
• 1294 – tam ancha como ora sta, of a street.^[5]
• 13th century – the Cantigas de Santa Maria and a cantiga d'escarnho of Afonso X.^[4]
• 14th century – the derivatives anchura and ancheza.^[3]
• c. 1430 – the adjective in the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437).^[21]
• 15th century – the spelling amcho.^[2]
• 1789 – Morais calls the sense “puffed up with pride” the more usual one.^[16]
• 1871 – Vieira marks the adjective as old and discusses its origin.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. wide, broad, spacious: um corredor ancho.^[2][14][1]
2. (figurative) Swollen with vanity; full of oneself, conceited.^[2][14][1]
3. (southern Brazil) Pleased, at ease.^[19]

Noun

1. (archaic) width.^[2][17]
2. (Brazil) Pride, presumption.^[18]

Word family

• anchura
• ancheza

Related words

• amplo
• Latin amplus
• Galician ancho

Usage notes

In Rio Grande do Sul andar mui ancho means to look entirely at ease, without embarrassment.^[19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. ancho
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. ancho
4. ^ a b c d e f 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. ancho
5. ^ a b c d e Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. amplo
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 430
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. amplus
8. ^ a b c d 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, 405
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. ample
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. ancho
12. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. ancho
13. ^ 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. ancho
14. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. ancho
15. ^ Lopes, Graça Videira; Ferreira, Manuel Pedro et al. (2011–), Cantigas Medievais Galego-Portuguesas [online database], Lisboa: Instituto de Estudos Medievais, FCSH/NOVA, https://cantigas.fcsh.unl.pt, p. s.v. ancho
16. ^ 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, 80
17. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 130
18. ^ a b c 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. ancho
19. ^ a b c Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. ancho
20. ^ 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. ancho
21. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. ancho