aranha

Forms

aranha f (plural aranhas)^[1] The 13th-century spelling is aranna;^[2][3] arãha and aranha appear in the 15th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin arānea (“spider; cobweb”), written Old Galician-Portuguese aranna in the oldest texts.^[2][4][1] Latin also had a masculine arāneus.^[2] The same Latin word is Galician araña, Spanish araña, Catalan aranya, Occitan aranha, Old French araigne and Italian ragna.^[5][1]

Wiktionary considers the Latin word either a borrowing of Ancient Greek ἀράχνη (arákhnē, “spider”) through an early intermediate form or a word from the same unknown source, and finds the second more likely because of the sounds.^[1] The Latin -ne- before a vowel became ⟨nh⟩, as in castanha from castanea and estranha from extranea.^[6]

Wiktionary suggests that ronha “scab, mange” is probably a doublet, from a Vulgar Latin derivative.^[1] The DHLF explains the matching French rogne as a popular alteration of the Latin word, which in late Latin also meant herpes, under the influence of rōdō (“to gnaw”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria have the spider itself (consomyu hũa aranna, “a spider consumed”) and the poison of a snake or a spider (de coovr' ou d'aranna).^[8] One cantiga calls a flimsy enterprise obra d'aranna, “spider's work”: inviting a crowd to a meal with no fish to serve.^[8] About the same time Aranha was the nickname of a man mocked in a cantiga by Afonso Lopes de Baião.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa (1611) has téa de aranha, the cobweb.^[9] Morais (1813) adds a fish, the aranha do travão, an iron piece at the end of the chain of a horse's hobble, and wheels with spokes around a hub likened to a spider's legs.^[10] The 19th century named further objects by their shape: a simple iron chandelier for candles, the wire frame of a lampshade, a light high-wheeled carriage drawn by one horse, a wine press, and a rope fitting that reinforces a sail.^[11][12]

In Brazil the word names an orchid (Renanthera coccinea) and other plants, and in the north-east a broken-down old horse.^[12][13] In Portugal it is said informally of a slow, clumsy person who cannot get on with a task.^[14][15] The word passed into Kabuverdianu as aranha and into Papiamentu as araña.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – aranna in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[8][3]
• c. 1430 – aranha in the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437).^[16]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses Aranha with Latin aranea and araneus.^[17]
• 1611 – Barbosa has téa de aranha.^[9]
• 1813 – Morais lists the fish and the aranha do travão.^[10]
• 1871 – Vieira explains the change from -nea to ⟨nh⟩.^[6]
• 1899 – Figueiredo lists the chandelier, the lampshade frame and the light carriage.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A spider, an eight-legged arachnid (aracnídeo) that spins silk for its web.^[2][18][1]
2. Any of various objects whose shape recalls a spider.^[18]
3. A simple metal chandelier for candles.^[15][14]
4. The wire frame that holds a lampshade; a wire hanger for plates on a wall.^[15][14]
5. A light two-wheeled carriage with high wheels, drawn by one horse.^[14][19]
6. A wine press with a fixed screw.^[15]
7. (nautical) A rope fitting that reinforces a sail.^[15]
8. (Brazil, botany) An ornamental orchid (orquídea) with red flowers (Renanthera coccinea).^[2][12]
9. (north-eastern Brazil) A weak, sick or useless horse.^[13]
10. (Portugal, informal) A slow, clumsy person who gets nothing done.^[14][15]
11. (Brazil, vulgar slang) The vulva.^[1]

Word family

• aranhiço
• aranhão
• aranheira
• aranhento
• aranhola
• aranhuço
• aranha-caranguejeira

Related words

• ronha
• Latin arānea
• Spanish araña

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. aranha
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. aranha
4. ^ a b Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. aranha
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. aranea
6. ^ 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, 525
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. rogne
8. ^ a b c 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. aranna
9. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. aranha
10. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 170
11. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. aranha
12. ^ 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. aranha
13. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. aranha
14. ^ a b c d e 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. aranha
15. ^ a b c d e f Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. aranha
16. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. aranha
17. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. aranha
18. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. aranha
19. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. aranha