bisel

Forms

bisel m^[1] Houaiss records the spelling visel in 1704, bisel in 1789 and the French form biseau in 1828.^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French bisel, the old form of French biseau, according to Cunha, Machado, Aurélio, the Academia's dictionary and the Porto Editora dictionary.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Houaiss starts instead from the modern French word, recorded from 1451, and thinks the Portuguese form was shaped by Spanish bisel, itself a loan from French.^[1] The old Caldas Aulete, Figueiredo and Silva Bastos took the word straight from Spanish.^[7][8][9]

The Spanish word is first recorded in 1589 and then not again until the 19th century;^[10] Corominas therefore rejects the idea that the French word came from Spanish.^[10] The origin of the French word is uncertain.^[10][11] Houaiss and the REW connect it with biais (“slant”), which Houaiss derives from Latin biaxius (“having two axles”);^[1][12] the DHLF supposes an intermediate form pronounced with the stress moved.^[11] Corominas objects that a derivative of the word for “slant” should show its diphthong and its voiceless /s/, and mentions Wartburg's view that both words go back to bis (“twice”).^[10] The French Wiktionary proposes Vulgar Latin *bisalus (“stone with two sides”), from the Latin word for “twice” and āla (“wing”).^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is an inventory of 1704, which writes visel;^[1][3] Bluteau has the word in 1712.^[1][3] Morais (1789) defines it, after Bluteau, as a piece used in printing, and remarks that the printers he asked did not know the term.^[14]

Semantic evolution

In the 18th and 19th centuries the dictionaries know the word mainly as a printing term: Vieira (1871) calls biseis the wedges that lock the formes.^[15] The old Caldas Aulete gives the general sense, an edge cut obliquely so that it does not end in a sharp arris, and adds senses in architecture and engraving;^[7][8] Figueiredo has the bevelled edge of a mirror glass and the setting of a ring stone.^[7][8] Houaiss dates the verb biselar to Figueiredo's dictionary of 1899.^[16]

Modern dictionaries add technical senses in engraving, gem cutting and music (the bevelled lip of flutes and organ pipes), and the Wikcionário the front panel of a computer case.^[1][5][17]

Timeline

• 1589 – first record of Spanish bisel.^[10]
• 1704 – visel in an inventory.^[1]
• 1712 – Bluteau's dictionary has the word.^[3]
• 1789 – Morais spells it bisel and calls it a printing term.^[14][1]
• 1828 – the French spelling biseau in a Portuguese text.^[1]
• 1871 – Vieira: the wedges that lock the formes; origin unknown.^[15]
• 1899 – first record of biselar.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bevel: an oblique cut along an edge or corner; chanfradura.^[1][4]
2. An edge cut in this way, so that it ends in a flat slanting face instead of a sharp angle; in particular the bevelled edge of glass or a mirror.^[1][8]
3. (printing) A wooden piece with one slanting side, used with wedges to lock the forme in the chase.^[1][18][19]
4. (engraving) The bevel cut along the edges of a metal plate so that they do not tear the paper; the mark it leaves on the print.^[1][4]
5. (jewellery) The setting of a ring stone; the facets of a gem round its table.^[1][4]
6. (music) The bevelled opening of certain flutes and of organ pipes.^[1][5]
7. (computing) The bezel, the front panel of a computer case.^[17]

Word family

• biselar
• biselado

Related words

• Spanish bisel
• French biseau

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. bisel
2. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. bisel
3. ^ a b c d Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. bisel
4. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. bisel
5. ^ 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. bisel
6. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1423
7. ^ a b c 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. bisel
8. ^ a b c d Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. bisel
9. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. bisel
10. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 592
11. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. biseau
12. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 71
13. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. biseau
14. ^ 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, 183
15. ^ 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, 774
16. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. biselar
17. ^ a b Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. bisel
18. ^ 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. bisel
19. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. bisel