armazém

Forms

armazém m (plural armazéns)^[1] The older form was almazem (1279), also written almaçem (1305) and allmarzem (1499); armazem is recorded from 1679.^[2][3] Almazém was still used by António Vieira in the 17th century, and the dictionaries now label it old and popular.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Andalusian Arabic المخزن (almaḫzán), from Arabic مخزن (maḫzan, “storehouse, depot”), with the Arabic article ال (al-) taken into the word.^[5][2][6] Houaiss glosses the Arabic word “shop, granary, attic, depot”.^[2] The Spanish dictionaries derive it from a root meaning “to store”.^[7][8]

The first Portuguese form was Old Galician-Portuguese almazem, and the change of ⟨l⟩ to ⟨r⟩ is put down to the influence of arma “weapon”, because the old form was above all an arsenal.^[2][3][9] Machado credits Bluteau with being the first to explain the change in this way, and Nascentes adds that it may also be a plain dissimilation.^[3][9] Feijó (1734) already preferred the spelling with ⟨r⟩ because the Latin for the place where arms are kept is Latin armamentarium.^[10]

The same Arabic word is Galician armacén, Spanish almacén and Catalan magatzem; Italian magazzino and Sicilian magasenu come from it without the article.^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, of 1279, is a byname in a document of Portel: Domingos Soares do Almazem.^[3] A document of 1305 from the same place reserves nossas cubas et o almaçem “our vats and the storehouse” with the other movable goods.^[3] Houaiss gives “arms depot” as the first sense in Portuguese.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the 15th and 16th centuries almazem meant above all an arsenal and the store of missiles carried into battle;^[11] Viterbo cites it for arrows, darts and bolts.^[11][3] Fernão de Oliveira's Arte da Guerra do Mar (16th century) wants armazès stocked with “all weapons and victuals”.^[3] Bluteau defines almazèm, ou armazem as a house where arms are kept, and then any store of goods.^[12] Morais (1789) notes that armazém is now the usual form, though the classical writers have almazem.^[13]

By the 19th century the sense was “warehouse for goods”, and Houaiss dates the sense “grocer's shop” to 1871, when Vieira contrasts the old “arsenal” with the modern “grocery or weighing shop”.^[2][14] Figueiredo (1899) adds “tavern”.^[15] In Brazil the armazém de secos e molhados is a general store, while in Portugal the word also names wholesale and department stores.^[2][16] In the salt pans of the Algarve it was the place where salt was kept.^[17]

Timeline

• 1279 – Domingos Soares do Almazem in a document of Portel.^[3][2]
• 1305 – almaçem in another document of Portel.^[3]
• 1499 – allmarzem de guynee, the storehouse of Guinea.^[3]
• 1556 – allmazẽs in a private letter.^[18]
• 1679 – first record of the spelling armazem.^[2]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses Almazem by Latin armamentarium.^[19]
• 1734 – Feijó argues for armazem.^[10]
• 1789 – Morais heads the word almazem but says armazém is now usual.^[13]
• 1871 – first record of the sense “grocer's shop”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A large building or room where goods are stored, a warehouse; formerly also a store of arms and munitions: Os sacos de café ficaram no armazém do porto.^[2][20][1]
2. (chiefly Brazil) A grocer's shop or general store (mercearia).^[2][20]
3. (Portugal) A wholesale business.^[2][21]
4. (Portugal) A large shop selling many kinds of goods, a department store.^[2][22]
5. (Portugal) A shop that sells drink; a tavern.^[2][15]

Word family

• armazenar
• armazenagem
• armazenamento
• armazenista

Related words

• almazém
• Spanish almacén
• Galician armacén
• Italian magazzino

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. armazém
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. armazém
4. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. almazém
5. ^ a b Corriente, Federico; Pereira, Christophe; Vicente, Ángeles (2019), Dictionnaire des emprunts ibéro-romans: emprunts à l'arabe et aux langues du monde islamique (Encyclopédie linguistique d'Al-Andalus 3), Berlin: De Gruyter, p. s.v. almacén
6. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. armazém
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 180
8. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. almacén
9. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. armazém
10. ^ a b Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. almazem
11. ^ a b Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 97
12. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. almazèm
13. ^ 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, 62
14. ^ 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, 558
15. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 127
16. ^ Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. armazém
17. ^ 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. armazém
18. ^ CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. armazém
19. ^ Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. almazem
20. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. armazém
21. ^ 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. armazém
22. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 904