brasão

Forms

brasão m (plural brasões)^[1] Both brasão and blasão are recorded in the 15th century.^[2][3] Machado notes that blasão was still in use in the 17th century, in the title of Álvaro Ferreira de Vera's Origem da Nobreza Política, Blasões de armas (1631).^[4] The older spelling with ⟨z⟩ appears as brazam in a private letter of 1767 and as brazão in 1808.^[5][6]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French blason.^[2][3][4][1] Michaelis and Figueiredo derived it from Spanish blasón instead,^[7][8] but the Spanish word, itself from French, is recorded only from 1539–1542.^[9][10]

The French word, recorded from 1160–1185, is of uncertain origin.^[11][9] Some have linked it with Old English blase (the English word blaze) and Middle High German blas (“burning torch”), so that the sense would have gone from “brightness” to the arms painted on a shield.^[11] Gamillscheg derived it from Frankish *blasjan (“to burn”), supposing that the word first meant the enamelled figure on the shield; the REW, the FEW and Bloch reject this, holding that the first sense was the concrete “shield”, and Corominas finds the question hard to decide, since both senses are found in French from the 12th century.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 15th century in the sense “arms, the device of a noble person or family”.^[2][3] The verb blasonar, from French, follows in 1532.^[12]

Semantic evolution

From the shield of arms the word passed by metonymy to the art of heraldry itself and, figuratively, to a motto or principle and to honour and glory.^[2][13] Houaiss also records a literary sense, the French blason of the 16th century, a poem in rhyming couplets praising or mocking a subject, and in forestry the older and larger trees kept back in a stand for thicker timber; in Portugal, a chestnut tree left as a reserve when a pine wood is thinned.^[2][14]

Regional surveys record brasão for arrogance or vanity in Portugal and, in Brazil, for a small metal medal with a saint's image worn on a chain round the neck.^[15] The verb brasonar, used especially in heraldry, is recorded from 1690, while blasonar kept the figurative sense “to boast”.^[16][17]

Timeline

• 15th century – first records of brasão and blasão.^[2][3]
• 1532 – first record of blasonar.^[12]
• 1539–1542 – first record of Spanish blasón.^[9]
• 1631 – Álvaro Ferreira de Vera publishes his treatise on Blasões de armas.^[4]
• 1690 – first record of brasonar.^[16]
• 1767 – brazam in a private letter.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (heraldry) A coat of arms: the figures, colours and ornaments that make up the shield of a noble family, a city, a corporation or a state; escudo de armas.^{[2][18][19][1]}
2. (heraldry) A piece or design made according to these rules; a badge, an insignia.^[2][13]
3. (figurative) A motto or principle, an emblem: a lealdade era o brasão da casa.^[2][18]
4. (figurative) Honour, glory.^[2][19][13]
5. Heraldry, the art of arms.^[2][13][14]
6. (literature) A blazon, a French poem of the 16th century in rhyming couplets praising or satirising a subject; a collection of such poems.^[2]
7. (forestry) The older and larger trees kept in a stand to yield thicker timber;^[2][14] (Portugal) a chestnut tree left as a reserve when a pine wood is thinned.^[2][14]

Related words

• brasonar
• blasonar
• French blason
• Spanish blasón

Usage notes

Houaiss also records a separate adjective brasão, formed from brasa with the suffix -ão, meaning the same as brasino, “ember-coloured”;^[2][20][7] Michaelis uses it of cattle of a reddish colour.^[2][20][7] In Portugal brasão is also a dialect word for the ring through which the beam of the plough passes on the yoke, which the TLPGP's source takes from Spanish barzón.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. brasão
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. brasão
4. ^ a b c Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. brasão
5. ^ a b CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. brasão
6. ^ 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. brasão
7. ^ a b c 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. brasão
8. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. brasão
9. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 599
10. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
11. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. blason
12. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. blasonar
13. ^ a b c d 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. brasão
14. ^ a b c d 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. brasão
15. ^ 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. brasão
16. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. brasonar
17. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. blasonar
18. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. brasão
19. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. brasão
20. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. brasino