céspede

Forms

céspede m (plural céspedes)^[1]

Etymology

Wiktionary takes it as inherited from Latin caespes (“sod, turf”), through its accusative.^[1] Houaiss gives the Latin word in both spellings, with and without the diphthong.^[2] The spelling cēspes is attested in Latin texts too, and Corominas notes that it fits the vowel of the Spanish word better.^[3][4] The word is first recorded only in 1789.^[2]

The same Latin word is Spanish césped, first recorded as Old Spanish céspede in 1076, and Italian cespite, with the rarer Italian cespo.^[5][4][6]

The origin of the Latin word is unknown, though its first sense may have been “a piece cut off”; the OLD compares caedō (“to cut”), as Figueiredo had done.^[7][3][8] De Vaan finds a comparison with an Oscan form too uncertain to use.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Morais's dictionary of 1789 first records the word, in the plural céspedes, in a military sense: sods cut with grass or roots, about a foot long, used to face ramparts, parapets and ditches and to line galleries.^[9][2]

Semantic evolution

Morais's edition of 1813 repeats the fortification sense, spelt cèspedes.^[10][2] Later dictionaries define the word more generally as a clod of earth with short, thick grass, or a piece of turf lifted from the ground.^[8][11] Botany added the sense “dense carpet of mosses or grass-like plants”.^[2][12] In poetry the word stands for a grassy field.^[1]

Timeline

• 1789 – Morais lists céspedes, sods for revetting fortifications.^[9]
• 1813 – Morais's second edition spells it cèspedes.^[2][10]
• 1899 – Figueiredo defines it as a clod with short grass.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sod or clod of earth covered with grass; a piece of turf cut from the ground.^[2][12][13]
2. (botany) A dense carpet of mosses (musgo) or grass-like plants that covers the ground completely.^[2][12]
3. A cluster of trunks springing from the same root.^[13][14]
4. (poetic) A grassy field.^[1]

Related words

• Latin caespes
• Spanish césped

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. céspede
3. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. caespes
4. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 57
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1476
6. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. césped
7. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. céspede
9. ^ 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, 258
10. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 377
11. ^ 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. céspede
12. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. céspede
13. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. céspede
14. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1977