anil

anil¹ indigo

Pronunciation

• Brazil: /aˈniw/, [aˈniʊ̯]^[1]
• Portugal: /ɐˈnil/, [ɐˈniɫ]^[1]
• Portugal, Southern: /ɐˈni.li/^[1]

Forms

anil m (plural anis)^[1] A text of 1371 writes anjil.^[2][3]

Etymology

The word for indigo is borrowed from Andalusian Arabic النيل (anníl), from Arabic نيل (nīl), with the Arabic article.^[2][4][5][1] The Arabic word came from Persian نیل (nil, “indigo”), through Middle Persian, and goes back to Sanskrit नील (nīla, “dark blue”).^[2][4][1] Houaiss and Corriente also note an Andalusian variant ending in -r.^[2][5]

The same Arabic word is Galician anil and Spanish añil, and Catalan anil, with the variant anyil.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Machado cites the word from a Latin text of 1179 in the Leges of the Portugaliae Monumenta Historica.^[6] Houaiss and Cunha date the first Portuguese record to the 13th century, and Cunha adds the spelling anjl in 1371; the old dictionaries define it as a colour, the blue of the sky.^[2][3][7]

Semantic evolution

From the 16th century the word appears constantly in the reports from India, where the Portuguese bought indigo as merchandise: Albuquerque mentions it in a letter of 1514, and Duarte Barbosa in 1516 distinguishes a fine anil de taboleta from a lesser anil nadador.^[8] Garcia da Orta explained the name from the Sanskrit word.^[9][8]

Cardoso (1569), Barbosa (1611) and Pereira (1697) gloss it as a colour, Latin lividus or caeruleus.^[10][7][11] Morais (1789) names the plant whose crushed leaves give the blue paste used in dyeing.^[12] Michaelis also records the bluing used in washing white clothes, and in Amazonia it passed into the Língua Geral as andira.^[13][1]

Timeline

• 1179 – the word in a Latin text of the Leges.^[6]
• 13th century – first Portuguese record.^[2][3]
• 1371 – the spelling anjil.^[2][3]
• 1514 – Albuquerque's letters mention indigo among the goods of India.^[8]
• 1516 – Duarte Barbosa names two grades of indigo.^[8]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary renders Anil by Latin color lividus.^[10]
• 1789 – Morais describes the indigo plant and the dye.^[12]
• 1871 – Cunha's first date for the derivative anilina.^[3]
• 1881 – Cunha's first date for anileira.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (chemistry) indigo, the blue dye obtained from plants of the genus Indigofera and now also made synthetically: tingir o algodão com anil.^[2][14]
2. (optics) The colour of light with a wavelength between about 450 and 480 nanometres; a shade of blue.^[2][15][1]
3. (botany) The indigo plant, anileira.^[16][17]
4. A preparation for whitening laundry, bluing.^[13]

Adjective

1. Of an indigo or blue colour; blue (azul): uma saia anil.^[2][15][16]

Word family

• anileira
• anilina
• anilar

anil² senile

Etymology tree of anil²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin ānus

Latin anīlis

Portuguese anil

From the same root · anil²

Latin anicula ← ānus

Pronunciation

• Brazil: /aˈniw/, [aˈniʊ̯]^[1]
• Portugal: /ɐˈnil/, [ɐˈniɫ]^[1]
• Portugal, Southern: /ɐˈni.li/^[1]

Forms

anil (masculine and feminine)^[2]

Etymology

The word for “of an old woman, senile” is borrowed from Latin anīlis (“of an old woman”), a learned word.^[2][3][18] The Latin adjective is formed from anus (“old woman”) with the suffix -īlis.^[19][1] It was often used with contempt, “old-womanish”, as when Cicero calls certain beliefs nearly old-womanish nonsense.^[20]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cunha dates the word to the 16th century and Houaiss to 1618.^[3][2] Vieira quotes it from Frei Pedro Calvo's Defensão das lagrimas dos Justos, which speaks of aniles fabellas “old wives' tales” left by the Jews.^[21]

Timeline

• 16th century – first record according to Cunha.^[3]
• 1618 – Houaiss's first date.^[2]
• 1871 – Vieira enters the adjective, “belonging to old people; senile”.^[21]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (rare) Of or relating to an old woman.^[16][13][14]
2. (rare) Very old, decrepit, senil.^[2][15]