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anel

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Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word anel

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1200s Cantigas de Santa Maria More words from the 13th century
Borrowed from
Occitan anel
Ultimate origin
Latin ānus

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /aˈnɛw/, [aˈnɛʊ̯][1]
  • Portugal: /ɐˈnɛl/, [ɐˈnɛɫ][1]
  • Portugal, Southern: /ɐˈnɛ.li/[1]

Forms

anel m (plural anéis)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Occitan anel (“ring”), from Latin ānellus (“little ring; finger ring”), written Old Galician-Portuguese anel in the oldest texts.[1][2][3][4][5] Houaiss and Cunha give only the Latin word.[6][7] Nascentes points out that the loss of the final vowel and the kept /n/ between vowels show a foreign word;[3][8] Cornu had found the loss of the vowel strange, and Meyer-Lübke therefore took the word from Occitan.[3][8] Universo Cantigas also marks it as Occitan.[9]

The Latin word was also inherited, as Old Galician-Portuguese ãelo, whence elo “link of a chain”.[2][5][1] In Galicia, Corominas notes, the inherited word was replaced by this Occitan-looking form.[10] The same Latin word is Catalan anell, Spanish anillo, French anneau, Italian anello and Romanian inel.[5][1]

The Latin word is a diminutive of ānulus (“ring”), itself from ānus (“ring”).[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in the Cantigas de Santa Maria: cantiga 42 tells how a young cleric put a ring on the finger of a statue of the Virgin (como o crerizon meteu o anel eno dedo da omagen de Santa Maria).[12] A cantiga d'amigo laments a lost ring: O anel do meu amado / perdi-o so-lo verde ramo “my love's ring I lost under the green branch”.[9]

Semantic evolution

The old plural was anees or anes, and Machado quotes a 15th-century account of tin rings (anes destanho) given as presents with bells.[7][2] Barbosa (1611) has the signet ring, anel pera sellar.[13] Morais (1789) heads the word annel and gives, beside the finger ring, a curl of hair, the bow of a key, and bispo de annel for a coadjutor bishop.[14] Vieira found annel the more usual spelling, though the etymology favoured anel.[15] Today the word also names a link of a chain, an algebraic structure, the matter circling a planet and, in botany, the annulus; informally it is also a vulgar word for the anus.[6][1] It passed into Língua Geral Amazônica as anera.[1]

Timeline

  • 13th century – first records, in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.[12][7]
  • 1297 – a sailor named Johã anel in a document;[2] Machado does not know whether the name is the same word.[2]
  • 1416 – the Vida de Santo Aleixo uses anel.[16]
  • 15th century – the plurals anees and anes, and first record of anete.[7]
  • 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary lists anel.[17]
  • 1611 – Barbosa records the signet ring.[13]
  • 1789 – Morais heads the word annel;[14][6] Houaiss dates the sense “ring-shaped part of a tool” to this year.[14][6]
  • 1813 – first record of anelar.[7]
  • 1871–1874 – Vieira prefers annel as the more usual spelling.[15]
  • 1899 – first record of anelídeo.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A ring worn on the finger, as an ornament or as a sign of a state or office: anel de noivado, anel episcopal.[6][1][18]
  2. Any circular band used to hold or fasten something; a hoop.[6][4]
  3. A link of a chain.[6][19]
  4. A curl of hair.[6][4]
  5. The ring-shaped part of a tool, such as the bow of a key.[6]
  6. (mathematics) A ring, an algebraic structure with two operations.[6][20]
  7. (astronomy) Matter circling a celestial body.[6]
  8. (botany, mycology) An annulus.[6][1]
  9. (vulgar) The anus.[1]

Word family

  • anelar
  • anelídeo
  • aneliforme
  • anete

Usage notes

In Amazonas, Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Sul, Aurélio's first edition records memória as a synonym for a finger ring.[21]

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 Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. anel
  3. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. anel
  4. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. anel
  5. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 452
  6. ^ 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. anel
  7. ^ 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. anel
  8. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 30
  9. ^ a b Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. anel
  10. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 274
  11. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. anneau
  12. ^ a b 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. anel
  13. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. anel
  14. ^ a b c 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, 84
  15. ^ 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, 414
  16. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. anel
  17. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. anel
  18. ^ 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. anel
  19. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. anel
  20. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 648
  21. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda (1975), Novo dicionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, p. 120

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Anel.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/anel. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·