baga

Forms

baga f (plural bagas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin bāca (“berry, small fruit”), also written bacca.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Vieira explains the /ɡ/ as the voicing of the Latin /k/, as in lacus and lago.^[6]

The same Latin word is Galician baga, Spanish baga (the capsule of the flax seed), Old Occitan baga, French baie and Italian bacca.^[7][8][9] Galician also has bago for a grape.^[7]

De Vaan finds the connection of the Latin word with the name of Bacchus uncertain, and reports a comparison with a Berber word for the blackberry, which would point to a loan from a substrate language into both.^[10] The DHLF also considers the word Mediterranean in origin.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Machado's first record is of 1426: ramas e eruagens, bagas, belotas “branches and grasses, berries, acorns”, a list of wild produce.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712) defines baga as the small fruit of the laurel, the myrtle and the ivy, and Morais compares it to a grape.^[12][13] From the round shape came the sense “drop” of dew or sweat.^[2] Vieira (1871) records suar em bagas “to sweat in drops”.^[6] Botany gave it the technical sense of a fleshy fruit with several seeds, such as the tomato or the grape.^[2][14]

Baga is also a black grape variety of the Bairrada.^[15][5] In Brazil it names the seed of the castor-oil plant (mamona), and informally sugar-cane spirit and a cigarette end.^[2][16] In Angolan slang it means the backside.^[5]

Timeline

• 1426 – bagas in a list of wild produce.^[3]
• 1569 – Cardoso translates it by Latin bacca.^[17]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau: the fruit of the laurel, myrtle and ivy.^[12]
• 1871 – Vieira records suar em bagas.^[6]
• 1899 – Figueiredo records the grape variety of the Bairrada.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) A berry: a simple, fleshy fruit that does not split open, with one or more seeds, such as the tomato or the grape.^[2][14][1]
2. A small round fruit of certain plants, such as the laurel, the myrtle or the elder.^[5][18]
3. A drop of dew or sweat.^[2][5]
4. (Portugal, regional) A black wine grape variety.^[5][15]
5. (Brazil) The seed of the castor-oil plant, mamona.^[2][14]
6. (Brazil, informal) Sugar-cane spirit, cachaça.^[2][16]
7. (Brazil, informal) A cigarette end.^[2][19]
8. (Angola, slang) The backside.^[5]

Related words

• bago
• Latin bāca
• Spanish baga

Usage notes

Houaiss has a separate baga, a member of the Baga people of Guinea, also the name of their language.^[2] Machado and Dalgado record another baga, a small boat of the Malay Archipelago, from Malay, quoted by Diogo do Couto.^[3][20]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. baga
3. ^ a b c d Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. baga
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. baga
5. ^ a b c d e f g 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. baga
6. ^ a b c 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, 703
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 859
8. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 58
9. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 453
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. baie
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. baga
13. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 151
14. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. baga
15. ^ a b c Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. baga
16. ^ 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. baga
17. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. baga
18. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. baga
19. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. baga
20. ^ Dalgado, Sebastião Rodolfo (1919–1921), Glossário luso-asiático, 2 vols., Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade, p. 1, 76