arruda

Forms

arruda f (plural arrudas)^[1] Houaiss's historical forms are arruta (1172, in a Latin charter), aruda (14th century) and arruda (15th century); the form without the initial vowel, ruda, is a variant.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin rūta (“rue”), with an initial vowel that most sources explain as the definite article a grown onto the noun.^[2][4][5] Aurélio instead derives it from Latin through Arabic, whose form of the name carried the article.^[6] Machado notes, after David Lopes, that the Arabs knew the word and wrote it with the article.^[7]

The same Latin word is Spanish ruda, Catalan ruda, Italian ruta and French rue.^[8][7] García de Diego lists the Portuguese word beside the variant ruda.^[9] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek ῥυτή (rhutḗ), according to Wiktionary a word of a Peloponnesian language; its origin is unexplained, and Beekes suggests a Pre-Greek source.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The name first appears in 1172 in a Latin charter, as the name of an estate: de uilla mea propria que uocatur arruta “of my own estate, which is called Arruta”.^[7][2] As the name of the plant Houaiss records aruda in the 14th century.^[2] The oldest prose text of the CTA corpus to use it is a regimen against the plague printed in 1496.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Rue was valued as a medicinal herb with a strong smell: Vieira quotes Garcia de Orta, who thought it was used more in earlier times “because it is against the plague”.^[11] Bluteau explained the name from a Greek verb for “to preserve”, because the plant helps preserve health, and described the cultivated kind.^[12] Morais (1789) calls it a herb with small, very green and foul-smelling leaves.^[13]

In Brazil the plant is grown against the evil eye (mau-olhado): in Rio Grande do Sul a sprig is worn behind the ear or kept in a horn hung on the wall.^[14][15] Houaiss also gives the name to two Brazilian timber trees of the genus Swartzia, with red, striped wood.^[2] The surname Arruda is of geographical origin.^[16]

Timeline

• 1172 – a Latin charter names an estate Arruta.^[7]
• 14th century – aruda “rue”.^[2]
• 15th century – the spelling arruda.^[2]
• 1496 – a regimen against the plague uses the word.^[10]
• 1547 – a private letter spells it aruda.^[17]
• 1569 – Cardoso translates it by Latin ruta.^[18]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau describes two kinds of rue.^[12]
• 1871 – Vieira names it as the common name of Ruta graveolens.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) rue, a name for several plants, chiefly of the genus Ruta, with a strong smell and medicinal uses.^[2][6][1]
2. Common rue (Ruta graveolens), a woody subshrub with yellowish flowers and bitter leaves, the source of a medicinal oil.^[2][19][5]
3. Fringed rue (Ruta chalepensis), a Mediterranean species once grown as a flavouring and medicine.^[2]
4. (Brazil) Either of two trees of the genus Swartzia with heavy, hard, red wood used in building and furniture.^[2]

Related words

• ruda
• ruta
• Latin rūta

Usage notes

Brazilian popular belief holds that rue keeps away the evil eye and protects a house where it is grown.^[14][15]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. arruda
3. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. arruda
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. arruda
5. ^ a b 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. arruda
6. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. arruda
7. ^ a b c d Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. arruda
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7470
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. ruta
10. ^ a b Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. arruda
11. ^ 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, 585
12. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. arruda
13. ^ 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, 123
14. ^ a b Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. arruda
15. ^ a b 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. arruda
16. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1952), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 2: Nomes próprios, Rio de Janeiro, p. s.v. arruda
17. ^ 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. arruda
18. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. arruda
19. ^ 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. arruda