barrica

Forms

barrica f (plural barricas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French barrique (“cask”), a word of southern French origin, first recorded in French in 1455.^[2][3][4][5] The French word was borrowed from the Occitan of south-western France, where it is Old Occitan barrica (in Old Occitan from 1498); the DHLF traces it to Vulgar Latin *barrica, a Gallo-Romance type formed on the stem of barre and baril, with a suffix -ica kept only in Gascon.^[6][1] Wiktionary takes that base back to Gaulish *baril (“cask, barrel”), and Houaiss calls it Gaulish too.^[1][2] Corominas leaves its exact origin unknown, perhaps Gaulish.^[1][2][7] The DLP and the Porto dictionary name a Gascon word as the source, through French, while Michaelis and DELPo give the Provençal word as the direct source.^{[8][9][10][11]}

The same Gascon word gave Spanish barrica, first recorded in 1639, which Corominas thinks spread from Bordeaux with the wine trade.^[7][12] Houaiss and Corominas regard barriga “belly” as an older, popular outcome of the same base, named from the bulging shape of the cask.^[2][7] Cunha too lists it under this word.^[2][7][3] Houaiss also mentions the view that it is connected with barra, since a cask is made of staves.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to the 15th century from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese, which is earlier than the first record Cunha's and Machado's dictionaries give, Morais in 1813.^[2][3][4] Bluteau already enters it in the early 18th century as a cooper's vessel shorter and more bellied than a pipe, used chiefly for dry provisions taken on board ship.^[13]

Semantic evolution

The old dictionaries describe the barrica as a container for goods rather than for wine: Aulete names flour, sugar, butter and oil, and Silva Bastos and Figueiredo the wares of grocers and druggists.^[14][15][16] In Rio Grande do Sul it was the cask in which biscuits, jerked beef, maté and tallow were kept and carried.^[17] Regional surveys in Portugal record it as a small pipe of up to about ten almudes, and in one area as the vessel in which copper sulphate for the vines was prepared.^[18]

From the shape of the cask the word was applied, informally, to a short, fat person.^[2][5] Michaelis also records it in slang for a pregnant woman.^[2][5][10]

Timeline

• 1455 – first record of French barrique.^[6]
• 1476 – Medieval Latin barriqua in a document from the Gers.^[6]
• 15th century – Houaiss's first date for the Portuguese word.^[2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau describes the barrica as a squat cask for dry provisions shipped by sea.^[13]
• 1813 – Morais's dictionary lists the word, the first date in Cunha and Machado.^[3][4]
• 1899 – Figueiredo defines it as a small pipe-shaped vessel for grocery or drug wares.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small wooden cask or keg made of staves, for storing goods, especially liquids: Guardou a aguardente numa barrica de carvalho.^[2][19][1]
2. (informal, figurative) A short, fat person.^[2][8][14]

Related words

• barriga
• barril
• barricada
• Spanish barrica

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. barrica
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. barrica
4. ^ a b c Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. barrica
5. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. barrica
6. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. barrique
7. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 524
8. ^ a b 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. barrica
9. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1287
10. ^ a b 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. barrica
11. ^ NEHiLP – Núcleo de Apoio à Pesquisa em Etimologia e História da Língua Portuguesa, Universidade de São Paulo, DELPo: Dicionário Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa (online database), p. s.v. barrica
12. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. barrica
13. ^ 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. barrica
14. ^ 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. barrica
15. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. barrica
16. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. barrica
17. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. barrica
18. ^ 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. barrica
19. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. barrica