beberagem

Forms

beberagem f (plural beberagens)^[1] Old forms are beuerageens (plural, 1377), beuragem (14th century) and beberagem (15th century).^[2][3] Houaiss also records the uncommon spelling beberragem.^[2]

Etymology

Houaiss, Cunha and Aurélio take it as borrowed from Old French breuvage (“drink”).^[2][3][4] Cunha derives the French word from a Latin *biberaculum, which Houaiss glosses “a liquid made for drinking”.^[3][2] Machado, after García de Diego, has the same Latin word passing through French and reshaped after beber.^[3][2][5] Wiktionary and Corominas trace the French word instead to bevrage, formed from bevre (“to drink”), its shape influenced by abreuver (“to water”);^[1][6] Corominas derives it from the infinitive Latin bibere (“to drink”) used as a noun.^[1][6]

Wiktionary sees it as formed from Portuguese beber + -agem, and the DLP and Porto Editora give both explanations.^[1][7][8] Its cognate Spanish brebaje, recorded from the end of the 13th century, is also borrowed from the Old French word.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the plural beuerageens to 1377.^[2] Machado quotes a sentence he dates, with a query, to the 14th century: a woman “gave her husband to drink a brew (beueragem de amauyas) of which he died”.^[5] From the beginning, then, the word is used for a prepared drink, here a poisonous one.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The 16th- and 17th-century dictionaries translate it with Latin potio “a drink, a draught”, and Morais in 1789 still glosses it simply as “drink”.^[9][10][11] In the 16th century Barbosa speaks of a poisoned beberagem.^[5] The modern senses lean towards the unpleasant: a drink of strange or bad taste, a medicinal brew of herbs, a healer's home remedy in Brazil, and the bran water given to animals.^[2][4] In the Douro the word names the thin wine made from the lees and given to the workers at the vintage.^[12]

Timeline

• 1377 – first record, the plural beuerageens.^[2]
• 15th century – the spelling beberagem.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary translates beberagem as potio.^[9]
• 1697 – Pereira gives potio, poculum and potus.^[10]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as a drink.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bebida, a drink of strange and usually unpleasant taste.^[2][13][1]
2. A medicinal infusion or decoction of herbs.^[2][4]
3. (Brazil) A home remedy, or one prepared by a folk healer (curandeiro); garrafada.^[2][14]
4. (veterinary) Water mixed with bran, often with a purgative or sedative, given to animals.^[2][15][1]
5. (Douro) Thin wine made from the lees and given to the workers at the grape harvest (vindima).^[12]

Related words

• beber
• bebida
• Spanish brebaje
• French breuvage

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. beberagem
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. beberagem
4. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. beberagem
5. ^ a b c d Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. beberagem
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 657
7. ^ 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. beberagem
8. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1322
9. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. beberagem
10. ^ a b Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. beberagem
11. ^ 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, 175
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. beberagem
13. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. beberagem
14. ^ 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. beberagem
15. ^ 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. beberagem