brisa

Forms

brisa f (plural brisas)^[1] In the 16th century the word was also written briza and used as a masculine noun.^[2][3] Bluteau and Vieira still head it briza.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French brise according to Houaiss, Cunha, Machado, Aurélio and Wiktionary.^{[6][2][3][7][1]} Houaiss adds that the Portuguese word was probably influenced by Spanish brisa and Catalan brisa, while Silva Bastos and Figueiredo took it from the Spanish word, and the old Caldas Aulete from English breeze.^{[6][8][9][10]} The dates favour a Spanish or Catalan source: the Spanish noun is recorded from 1504 for the north-east wind, the Catalan one from the 15th century, and the French one only from 1598, in a translation from Spanish.^[11][12] Corominas thinks the word may have been spread by the Spanish navigators of the 16th century, as the name of an easterly wind that helped ships sailing to America.^[13]

Its origin is obscure.^[13][12] Corominas suggests a crossing of French bise (“north-east wind”), a Germanic word, with the verb briser (“to break”).^[6][13] The REW points to East Frisian Low German brisen (“to blow hard”), but Corominas notes that the English and Dutch words cannot be old.^[13] Bloch and Wartburg, quoted by Machado, also looked to Frisian, while Wiktionary mentions Frankish *brāþi (“steam, vapour”) for the French word.^[3][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas records the Portuguese word in Couto at the end of the 16th century.^[13] Cunha and Machado date it to the same century.^[13][2][3] In the Spanish of the time it named a strong north-easterly or easterly wind, especially the one blowing in the Americas, and only later a gentle wind.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau knows the word as a sailors' term, quoting Francisco Manuel de Melo's Epanáforas on the cold, keen winds “that our sailors commonly call briza ventante”, and Vieira still labels it nautical: a cool periodic wind.^[4][5] The old Caldas Aulete defines it as a cool, gentle wind and distinguishes the sea breeze from the land breeze, the senses of today.^[10][6]

Brazilian informal speech made the word mean “nothing”: viver de brisa “to live on air”, to have no money or nothing to eat.^[6][15] In the north-east it means poverty, lack of money.^[7][16] More recent Brazilian slang uses it for a daydream or the effect of a drug.^[1]

Timeline

• 1504 – first record of the Spanish noun, for a north-east wind.^[11]
• late 16th century – first Portuguese record, in Couto.^[13][2]
• 1598 – first record of the French noun.^[6][12]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau explains briza as a sailors' word.^[4]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira enters briza as a nautical term.^[5]
• 1899 – Figueiredo defines brisa as a gentle cool wind, especially by the sea.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A breeze, a gentle, cool wind: Ao fim da tarde levantou-se uma brisa agradável.^[6][7][1]
2. (meteorology) A light to moderate periodic wind of coastal regions, blowing by day off the sea (brisa marinha) and by night off the land (brisa terrestre).^[6][17]
3. (Brazil, informal) Nothing at all.^[6][10]
4. (north-eastern Brazil, slang) Lack of money, penury (pindaíba).^[7][16][15]
5. (Brazil, slang) A daydream, a state of musing; the effect of a drug, a high.^[1]

Word family

• brisar
• para-brisa

Related words

• Spanish brisa
• French brise

Usage notes

Houaiss records the informal phrases viver de brisa “to have no money for anything; to go hungry”, comer brisa “to go hungry” and à brisa “without money or food”.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. brisa
3. ^ a b c d Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. brisa
4. ^ 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. briza
5. ^ a b c 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, 824
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. brisa
7. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. brisa
8. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. brisa
9. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. brisa
10. ^ 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. brisa
11. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. brisa
12. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. brise
13. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 668
14. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. brise
15. ^ a b 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. brisa
16. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. brisa
17. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1538