barro

Forms

barro m (plural barros)^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[2][3] Houaiss takes it to be inherited from Vulgar Latin *barrum (“clay, mud”), a pre-Roman base, perhaps related to the stems of barranco.^[2] Cunha, Machado, the Aurélio and Michaelis also call it pre-Roman, and Machado notes that its Romance relatives are disputed.^[4][5][6][7] The DLP thinks it may be a Hispanic Latin word, while Priberam calls its origin controversial and Porto obscure.^[8][3][9] Wiktionary takes the base to be Paleo-Hispanic, possibly Celtic, comparing broch (“waste, dregs”) and *barros (“bushy end”), as the DLE does.^[1][10]

The same word is Galician barro, Spanish barro and Asturian barru.^[1] Corominas dates the Spanish word to 1250–1280 and finds it in Gascon and Languedocian too.^[11] The REW also lists it in Occitan, and derives from it Spanish barraca.^[12] Older scholars thought of an Arabic word for earth, an idea Engelmann and Gonçalves Viana held and Silva Bastos still offered with a question mark.^[13][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 14th century.^[2][4] Machado quotes a list of goods with louça outra de barro que aqui fazem, “other pottery of clay that they make here”, and argues that the word must be older, since its derivatives are recorded much earlier: barrosa in a Latin charter of 968, Barrosum as a surname in 1111 and barreiro in 1128.^[5] A Santiago register taxes pedra et barro, “stone and clay”, the mixture of earth and water used in building.^[15]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is clay as material for building and for pottery: Cardoso, Barbosa and Pereira render it with Latin argilla and creta, and Bluteau calls it a rich earth for making jugs and crockery.^[16][17][18] Bluteau already has the proverbial tirar barro à parede, and Morais in 1789 explains lançar barro à parede as to try whether something can be achieved.^[18][19] By metonymy the word names a clay object or figure, and so something of little worth.^[2][6] In Brazil it is also an informal word for excrement, and in Portugal for money.^[2] In southern Brazil it is the usual word for the mud of wet roads and fields.^[20]

Timeline

• 968 – the derivative barrosa in a Latin charter.^[5]
• 14th century – first record of barro.^[2][4]
• c. 1430 – barro in the Horto do Esposo.^[21]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary renders it with Latin argilla.^[16]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau records the phrase tirar barro à parede.^[18]
• 1789 – Morais explains lançar barro à parede.^[19]

Meanings

Noun

1. clay, argila; earth used for making pottery, bricks and tiles.^[2][6][8]
2. (building) A mixture of clay and water for laying bricks in makeshift walls.^[2][6]
3. mud, lama.^[22][20]
4. (informal) An object or figure made of clay: comprou um barro na feira.^[2][6]
5. (informal) Something worthless, flimsy or fake.^[2][6]
6. (figurative) The matter man is made of; human frailty.^[8][9]
7. (Brazil, informal or vulgar) excrement.^[2]
8. (Portugal, informal) Money.^[2]
9. barro branco, barro forte: caulim, kaolin.^[2][6]

Word family

• barreiro
• barrento
• barroso

Related words

• barranco
• Spanish barro

Usage notes

Lançar or atirar barro à parede means to make an attempt and see whether it succeeds.^[19][3]

The plural barros “red pimples on a young man's face” is a word of separate origin: the DCECH derives the Spanish and Portuguese word from Latin varus “pimple”.^[2][23] An old barro “hamlet, small farm”, recorded by Viterbo in medieval documents, is a form of bairro.^[24][25]

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 l m n Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. barro
3. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. barro
4. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. barro
5. ^ a b c Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. barro
6. ^ a b c d e f g Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. barro
7. ^ 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. barro
8. ^ 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. barro
9. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1290
10. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. barro
11. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. barro
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. s.v. barro
14. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. barro
15. ^ 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. barro
16. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. barro
17. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. barro
18. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. barro
19. ^ a b c 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, 170
20. ^ a b Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. barro
21. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. barro
22. ^ 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. barro
23. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 529
24. ^ Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 182
25. ^ 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, 734