ave

ave¹ bird

Etymology tree of ave¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin avis

Portuguese ave

Spanish ave

From the same root · ave¹

French aviateur ← avis

French aviation ← avis

French avion ← avis

Latin auceps ← avis

Latin auspex ← avis

Latin aviārium ← avis

Latin avicula ← avis

Pronunciation

• Brazil: /ˈa.vi/^[1]
• Portugal: /ˈa.vɨ/^[1]
• Northern, Portugal: /ˈa.bɨ/, [ˈa.βɨ]^[1]

Forms

ave f (plural aves, diminutive avezinha, augmentative avezona)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the bird is inherited from Latin avis (“bird”), written Old Galician-Portuguese ave in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] Houaiss adds that the zoological sense comes directly from the scientific Latin name of the class, Aves.^[2]

The same Latin word is Galician ave, Spanish ave and old Catalan au.^[5][6] Corominas notes that Spanish, Portuguese and Sardinian are the only Romance languages that kept it; the others use forms of a diminutive.^[7] For this reason Nascentes thought the Portuguese and Spanish words probably learned.^[8]

The Latin word goes back to *awis and Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwis (“bird”), and is cognate with वि (ví).^[1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Machado quotes a cantiga of Alfonso X from the Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional: Non me posso pagar tanto / do canto / das aues, nem de sseu ssom “I cannot take such delight in the song of the birds, nor in their sound”.^[4] The Cantigas de Santa Maria pair it with beasts (ave nen besta), and the Miragres de Santiago tell of a place where any bird that settles dies at once.^[10]

Semantic evolution

In the cantigas andar a las aves meant “to go hawking”, and a troubadour reminds a traveller that he must know the omens of birds.^[11] Bluteau explains that ave is the ordinary word for every kind of bird, large or small.^[12] Figurative senses followed: a crafty, untrustworthy person and, in Brazil, a cunning thief, and in Pará a woman who serves and dances in the houses of pajelança.^[2][13] In Portugal ave has been described as the word for a large bird, as against the smaller pássaro.^[14]

Kabuverdianu has avi.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records, among them a cantiga of Alfonso X.^[3][4]
• 14th century – the spelling aue;^[15] avees in the 15th.^[2]
• 1611 – Barbosa's dictionary translates it by Latin avis and volucris.^[15]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau calls it the ordinary word for any bird.^[12]
• 1871 – first record of the derivative avicultura.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bird, a feathered, egg-laying vertebrate with wings and a toothless beak: Vimos uma ave enorme pousada na rocha.^[2][16][1]
2. (in the plural, zoology) The class Aves, the birds.^[2]
3. A crafty, deceitful person; a trickster.^[2][13]
4. (Brazil) A cunning thief.^[2][13]
5. (Pará, Brazil) A woman who serves and dances in the ritual houses of pajelança.^[2][13]
6. (figurative) A person who stays only a short time in a place; a wanderer.^[17]

Word family

• avezinha
• avejão

ave² hail

Etymology tree of ave²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin avē

English ave

Portuguese ave

Pronunciation

• Brazil: /ˈa.vi/^[1]
• Portugal: /ˈa.vɛ/^[1]
• Northern, Portugal: /ˈa.bɛ/, [ˈa.βɛ]^[1]

Forms

ave !^[1]

Etymology

The greeting is borrowed from Latin avē (“hail”), the second person singular imperative of the Latin verb “to greet”.^[2][1][18] It entered the language with the Church Latin of the Hail Mary, the angel's greeting to the Virgin.^[19][16] Wiktionary's Latin entry takes the Latin greeting as a borrowing from a Punic imperative meaning “live!”, later understood as a Latin verb form.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the interjection to the 13th century.^[2] The Cantigas de Santa Maria quote the Latin Ave maris stella and Ave gratia plena, and use the greeting in Portuguese verse, as when an angel says Madre de Deus, avé.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Vieira describes it as the Roman greeting, used in the morning as salve was in the evening, and quotes Amador Arrais to that effect.^[20] Figueiredo also records it as a masculine noun, “a greeting”, and the DLP has the masculine ave “a prayer to the Virgin, an Ave Maria”.^[18][16] In the River Plate region of Brazil the full ave-maria! expresses surprise or resignation, and was once said by a stranger asking to approach a house.^[21]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records;^[2][19] ave-maria is recorded in the same century.^[2][19]
• 1871 – Vieira describes ave as the Roman morning greeting.^[20]
• 1899 – Figueiredo records the interjection and the noun “greeting”.^[18]

Meanings

Interjection

1. hail!, a solemn greeting, like salve: Ave, ó pátria amada!^[2][13][1]
2. Short for ave-maria.^[1][16]

Word family

• ave-maria