bordo

bordo¹ side of a ship

Etymology tree of bordo¹

inherited borrowed derived

French bord

Portuguese bordo

Romanian bord

Spanish bordo

Catalan bord

Spanish borde

From the same root · bordo¹

French aborder ← bord

French déborder ← bord

Pronunciation

• Brazil: /ˈbɔʁ.du/, [ˈbɔɦ.du]^[1]
• São-Paulo: /ˈbɔɾ.du/^[1]
• Rio-de-Janeiro: /ˈbɔʁ.du/^[1]
• Caipira: /ˈbɔɻ.du/^[1]

Forms

bordo m (plural bordos)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the side of a ship is borrowed from French bord, from Frankish *bord (“side of a ship”), according to Houaiss, who makes borda and the old borde variants of it.^[2] Machado derives the same word from the Frankish, perhaps through French; the Academia's dictionary gives the Frankish word directly.^[3][4] Wiktionary instead derives it from an early medieval Germanic language, possibly Gothic *𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 (*baurd), and Nascentes gives a Germanic word for “edge” after the REW;^[1][5] Cortesão thought it Spanish.^[1][5]

The French word is recorded about 1121, and the DHLF reconstructs the Frankish noun from Old Norse borð (“edge, upper strake of a ship”) and its cognates Old English bord, Dutch boord and Old High German bort.^[6] Orel traces the Germanic noun to Proto-Germanic *burdą (“board, plank”) and compares Gothic 𐍆𐍉𐍄𐌿𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 (fotubaurd, “footstool”).^[7]

The word Spanish borde “edge” is also from French; there the nautical sense settled on bordo (1492), while Galician-Portuguese shared the senses out differently between its two forms.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria tell of a merchant who eno bordo da nave / estava enton encima dũa trave “was then at the ship's side, on top of a beam” (cantiga 267).^[10] The Galician Crónica Troiana has quebravan as cordas et os bordos “they broke the ropes and the sides”.^[10] Machado quotes a 14th-century text in which people marvelled that they saw neither man nor woman ao bordo.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Morais (1789) lists the side of the ship, the ship itself (ir para bordo “to go on board”), the course a ship holds when tacking, navio d'alto bordo “a ship with several decks”, whence, figuratively, coisa d'alto bordo “something out of the common”, and fazer bordos “to tack”.^[11] He also records the figurative “frame of mind, opinion”, as in estar d'outro bordo “to be of another mind”.^[11] Vieira adds virar de bordo “to go about”, figuratively “to change one's conduct”.^[12]

Today the word also means the edge of any surface, the rim of a horseshoe or a coin, and the leading and trailing edges of a wing (bordo de ataque, bordo de fuga).^[2][13] In north-eastern Brazil bordos are two of the logs of a jangada raft, and informal Brazilian Portuguese uses the plural for “parts, places” (por estes bordos).^[2][14] In Portugal it is also the grain left heaped above the rim of a measure after levelling.^[2][15]

Timeline

• 13th century – eno bordo da nave in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[10]
• 14th century – ao bordo in a text quoted by Machado.^[3]
• 1492 – Spanish bordo for the side of a ship.^[8]
• 1789 – Morais records ir para bordo, navio d'alto bordo and fazer bordos.^[11]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira quotes Camões's Lusíadas for the word.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (nautical) Each of the two halves into which a vessel's hull is divided lengthwise; a ship's side.^[2][16][1]
2. (nautical) Each of the two areas on either side of a vessel: Caiu ao mar por qual bordo?^[2][16]
3. (nautical) A tack, the course of a sailing ship that zigzags into the wind;^[2][17] (figurative) an opinion, purpose or frame of mind.^[2][17]
4. In a bordo, the inside of a ship or aircraft: Os passageiros já estão a bordo.^[2][4][1]
5. The edge or limit of a surface; border, rim.^[2][13]
6. (north-eastern Brazil) On a jangada, each of the two logs between the middle and the outer log.^[2][14]
7. (Brazil, informal, usually plural) Place, parts: Que fazes por estes bordos?^[2]
8. (aeronautics) The front or rear edge of a wing: bordo de ataque, bordo de fuga.^[2][13]

Word family

• altibordo

bordo² maple

Pronunciation

• Brazil: /ˈboʁ.du/, [ˈboɦ.du]^[1]
• São-Paulo: /ˈboɾ.du/^[1]
• Rio-de-Janeiro: /ˈboʁ.du/^[1]
• Caipira: /ˈboɻ.du/^[1]

Forms

bordo m (plural bordos)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the maple is of obscure origin.^[2][18] Cornu proposed Latin laburnum (“laburnum tree”), with ⟨rn⟩ becoming ⟨rd⟩;^[2][5] Serafim da Silva Neto found this very hard to justify, according to Houaiss.^[2][5] Nascentes saw no difficulty if one starts from a form *loborno whose first syllable was taken for the definite article, and compares fardel beside farnel.^[5] Machado and Wiktionary also allow the Latin word, Wiktionary with the same misreading of the first syllable as an article.^[19][1]

The Academia's dictionary instead gives alburnus, the Aurélio derives it, possibly, from the word for the side of a ship with a change of vowel, and Figueiredo compared the adjective Spanish borde.^[4][16][20] The DCECH gives that adjective the sense “bastard”, from Catalan, from Late Latin burdus (“mule”).^[8] The Latin word is itself of unknown origin.^[21]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 15th century;^[2][18] Machado, following Morais, also gives the 15th century.^[2][18][19]

Semantic evolution

Pereira's Thesouro (1697) has bordo “tree”, rendered with Latin acer “maple”.^[22] Figueiredo (1899) applies it to the field maple and its wood.^[20] Brazilian dictionaries describe above all the North American sugar maple, whose sap gives açúcar de bordo and xarope de bordo, maple sugar and maple syrup.^[2][16]

Timeline

• 15th century – first record.^[2][18]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses bordo, arvore with Latin acer.^[22]
• 1899 – Figueiredo enters the word as a second bordo, the field maple.^[20]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) A maple, any tree or shrub of the genus Acer, grown for its light timber, its sweet sap and as an ornamental.^[2][17][1]
2. The sugar maple, Acer saccharum, whose sap is made into maple sugar and syrup.^[2][13]
3. The wood of these trees, used in cabinet-making.^[2][4]