bailada

Forms

bailada f (plural bailadas)^[1] The medieval spelling is baylada.^[1][2][3]

Etymology

Houaiss explains it as the feminine of bailado used as a noun, that is, from the past participle of the verb, and the Porto dictionary agrees: it is formed from Portuguese bailar (“to dance”).^[1][4][3] Aurélio and the DLP analyse it as from Portuguese bailar + -ada.^[5][6] Houaiss notes that it is the native counterpart of balada, a borrowing of the same origin.^[1]

The verb is ballō (“to dance”), which Cunha derives from Ancient Greek πάλλω (pállō, “to swing, leap”) and Houaiss only connects with it;^[2][7] Houaiss notes that the ⟨i⟩ of the Iberian forms is unexplained.^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Machado's first record is a cantiga d'amigo of King Dinis: Ma madre loada, / Vou m'a la baylada / Do Amor “my praised mother, I am going to the dance of love”.^[3] Houaiss also dates baylada to the 13th century.^[1] In the cantigas the word means both the dance itself and the song that went with it.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

In the cantigas a mother tells her daughter to dance a bailada before her lover under the pomegranate tree, and girls go dancing and cantando nossas bailadas “singing our dance songs”.^[8] Literary history uses bailada (also bailia) for the cantiga d'amigo that invites to the dance, a cheerful song of the joy of living and loving.^[1][6][10] The general senses “act of dancing” and “popular dance” are now obsolete, though Houaiss records an informal use for a short dance.^[1][5]

Timeline

• 13th century – baylada in a cantiga of King Dinis.^[3][1]

Meanings

Noun

1. (obsolete) The act of dancing (bailar); a dance.^[1][5]
2. (obsolete) A popular dance, a bailarico.^[1][5]
3. (archaic) A dance of the common people and the jongleurs.^[1][5]
4. (literature) A kind of troubadour lyric that, set to music, accompanied such a dance; a dance song, bailia.^[1][5][6]
5. (informal) A short dance, a single turn on the floor.^[1]

Related words

• bailar
• baile
• bailado
• bailia
• balada

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. bailada
2. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. bailar
3. ^ a b c d Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. bailada
4. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1209
5. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. bailada
6. ^ a b c 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. bailada
7. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. bailar
8. ^ a b Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. bailada
9. ^ 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. bailada
10. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. bailia