bandurra

Forms

bandurra f (plural bandurras)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish bandurria, from Late Latin pandurium, from Latin pandūra, from Ancient Greek πανδοῦρα (pandoûra, “a three-stringed instrument”).^[1][2] Cunha takes the Late Latin word from a diminutive of the Greek one.^[2] The Academia's dictionary and the Porto Editora dictionary give the same chain through Spanish,^[3][4] while Vieira, Figueiredo and Silva Bastos derived the word straight from the Latin.^[5][6][7] Nascentes cites Gonçalves Viana, who put the change of /p/ to /b/ down to Arabic influence.^[8]

The Latin word named a long-necked lute with three strings, which the OLD thinks probably came from Assyria;^[9][10] Isidore said it was invented by Pan.^[9][10] The Spanish word is first recorded about 1330 in Juan Ruiz, spelt vandurria, and earlier, about 1280, as mandurria in the General Estoria.^[11][12] The same Latin word gave Italian pandora and mandola, which passed on to French pandore and mandore.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the 14th-century Galician version of the General Estoria, in a list of instruments: et fezolle pera elles albugas et albuguetes et bandurras “and he made for them albugas, albuguetes and bandurras”.^[14][11] Houaiss and Cunha also date the word to the 14th century.^[1][2]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau sends the reader from bandurra to bandorrilha and explains the ancient pandura as a three-stringed instrument.^[15] Morais (1789) calls it a small cithara of four or five strings, and Vieira (1871) a kind of viola of three strings, adding that the word was also used in jest of any poor stringed instrument.^[16][5] Figueiredo and Silva Bastos record the popular sense “viola”, and Silva Bastos the verb bandurrear “to play the bandurra”, used figuratively for “to loaf about”.^[6][7] Cunha dates bandurrear to 1844.^[2]

The modern dictionaries describe the Spanish instrument of the lute family, with a pear-shaped body, a short neck and six pairs of gut strings, played with a plectrum; the Academia's dictionary keeps a deprecatory sense for a rough stringed instrument.^[1][3][4]

Timeline

• c. 1280 – Spanish mandurria in the General Estoria.^[11]
• 14th century – bandurras in the Galician version of the General Estoria.^[14][1][2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau refers bandurra to bandorrilha.^[15]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as a small cithara of four or five strings.^[16]
• 1844 – first record of bandurrear.^[2]
• 1871 – Vieira records the jocular use for any stringed instrument.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (music) A plucked string instrument of the lute family, of Spanish origin, with a pear-shaped body, a short neck and six pairs of strings, played with a plectrum; the Spanish bandurria.^[1][3][4]
2. (popular, derogatory) A viola; any rough stringed instrument.^[3][17][6]

Word family

• bandurrear

Related words

• bandola
• bandolim
• Spanish bandurria
• Latin pandura

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. bandurra
2. ^ a b c d e f Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. bandurra
3. ^ a b c d 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. bandurra
4. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1250
5. ^ 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, 719
6. ^ a b c Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. bandurra
7. ^ a b Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. bandurra
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. 61
9. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 490
12. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
13. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
14. ^ a b 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. bandurra
15. ^ 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. bandurra
16. ^ 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, 64
17. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. bandurra