baraço

Forms

baraço m (plural baraços)^[1] The feminine baraça is older and was commoner in the medieval language; it survives beside baraço.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Arabic مَرَسَة (marasa, “rope”) according to Houaiss, Cunha, Machado, Aurélio and Corriente, and is written Old Galician-Portuguese baraça and baraço in the 13th century.^{[4][3][2][5][6]} Cunha gives the Arabic source as probable.^[3] Machado finds the absence of the Arabic article strange, and suggests that the feminine comes from a noun of unity.^[2] Corriente allows a phonetic contamination by braça (“fathom”).^[6] Wiktionary traces the Arabic word back to Classical Syriac ܡܰܪܫܳܐ (maršā, “rope”) and Akkadian markasu (“rope”).^[1]

Corominas rejects the Arabic origin: he finds the noun only in Galician-Portuguese and western Leonese dialects, and thinks it is probably pre-Roman, perhaps Celtic, comparing Old Irish barr (“tuft, crest”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in Latin documents.^[2] A foral of 1114–1128 has in peia, aut in baraza “in a snare or a noose”, a hunting term, and a document of 1260 measures land in baraços.^[2][7] In the 13th-century cantigas Johan Garcia de Guilhade writes mays dou uos esta baraça “but I give you this cord”, a ribbon for a woman's dress, and Johan de Gaia mentions a saia de baraça.^[2][8][7]

Semantic evolution

Cardoso in 1569 renders the word with Latin laqueus “noose” and funis “rope”.^[9] Folqman in 1755 records the noose and the tie of a sheaf, and the phrase estar com o baraço na garganta “to have the noose round one's neck”, that is, to be in great straits.^[10] Vieira adds the cord put round the necks of criminals led through the streets to be flogged.^[11]

The phrase senhor de baraço e cutelo, literally “lord of rope and knife”, named the feudal lord with power to hang or behead, and later anyone who rules without restraint.^[4][11] Wiktionary marks the word as dialectal and uncommon today.^[1] A Portuguese dialect glossary records it for a runner of the vine or of the pumpkin plant.^[12]

Timeline

• 1114–1128 – baraza in a Latin foral.^[2][4]
• 1260 – baraços as a measure in a Latin document.^[2]
• 13th century – baraça in the cantigas of Johan Garcia de Guilhade.^[2]
• c. 1430 – baraço in the Horto do Esposo.^[13]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders it with Latin laqueus.^[9]
• 1755 – Folqman records estar com o baraço na garganta.^[10]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as the noose of the hanged and the tie of bundles.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cord or thin rope of flax, tow or similar fibre.^[4][5]
2. A tie of twisted wicker for binding bundles or sheaves.^[4][15]
3. A noose for hanging.^[4][5]
4. (historical) The rope with which convicts were flogged.^[4]
5. (regional, Portugal) A runner of the vine or of a gourd plant.^[12]

Word family

• embaraçar
• embaraço

Related words

• embaraçoso
• Spanish embarazar

Usage notes

Senhor de baraço e cutelo is still used for a person who imposes their will without restraint.^[4][16]

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 Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. baraço
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. baraço
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. baraço
5. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. baraço
6. ^ a b Corriente, Federico; Pereira, Christophe; Vicente, Ángeles (2019), Dictionnaire des emprunts ibéro-romans: emprunts à l'arabe et aux langues du monde islamique (Encyclopédie linguistique d'Al-Andalus 3), Berlin: De Gruyter, p. s.v. baraça/o
7. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 555
8. ^ 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. baraça
9. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. baraço
10. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. baraço
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, 722
12. ^ a b Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. baraço
13. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. baraço
14. ^ 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, 165
15. ^ 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. baraço
16. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1260