caça

Forms

caça f (plural caças)^[1]

Etymology

It is a back-formation from Portuguese caçar (“to hunt”).^[2][3][1][4] The verb comes from Vulgar Latin *captiō (“to hunt, seize”), from Latin captō (“to try to catch”), itself formed from capiō (“to take”).^[5][3][1] Corominas notes that the Vulgar Latin verb is indirectly attested in the 6th century by the derivative Late Latin captiōsus (“intent on hunting”).^[6]

The parallel nouns are Galician caza, Spanish caza, Catalan cassa, French chasse and Italian caccia.^[7][1] The masculine noun meaning “fighter plane” is the same word, short for avião de caça.^[2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria tell como un cavaleiro que andava a caça perdeu o açor “how a knight who was out hunting lost his goshawk”, and praise a land rich de pescad’e de caça “in fish and game”.^[9] The Crónica Troiana calls a country moy bõa de caça “very good for game”.^[9] Both senses, the hunt and the animals hunted, are therefore there from the start.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau in 1712 defines caça as the art of taking and killing birds and beasts, divided into montaria and volateria, and repeats an opinion that the word came from Italian caccia.^[10] Folqman in 1755 and Morais in 1789 record dar caça “to pursue the enemy”, especially at sea.^[11][12] Later senses include a dogged search or pursuit of people, the set of nets of a fishing boat, and a naval word of command to haul in the sheets.^[2][13] The fighter plane is first recorded in the tenth edition of Morais's dictionary (1949–1958).^[2]

Timeline

• 13th century – first record, in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[2][3][9]
• c. 1430 – first record in the CTA corpus, in the Horto do Esposo.^[14]
• 1712 – Bluteau divides hunting into montaria and volateria.^[10]
• 1755 – Folqman records dar caça “to pursue”.^[11]
• before 1958 – caça “fighter plane”, in Morais's tenth edition.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. hunting; a hunt: a caça ao javali.^[2][1][15]
2. game: the animals hunted or that may be hunted: Já não há caça nesta serra.^[2][1]
3. (cooking) A dish of game.^[2]
4. (figurative) A dogged search or pursuit, especially of people: a caça aos corruptos.^[2][15]
5. (fishing) The set of nets of a fishing boat.^[2][16]
6. (masculine) A fighter plane.^[2][1][4]

Interjection

1. (nautical) A command to haul in the sheets of the sail.^[2][13]

Related words

• caçar
• caçada
• caçador
• Spanish caza
• Italian caccia

Usage notes

Caça submarina is spearfishing, and levantar a caça is to flush game from its cover, figuratively to spot a deal that others then profit from.^[2][17]

Pereira (1697) and Folqman (1755) also have caça as the name of a white cotton cloth from India;^[18][11][19] Figueiredo refers this word to cassa.^[18][11][19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. caça
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. caçar
4. ^ 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. caça
5. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. caçar
6. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 932
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. captiare
8. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda (1975), Novo dicionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, p. 267
9. ^ a b c d Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. caça
10. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. caça
11. ^ a b c d Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. caça
12. ^ 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, 208
13. ^ a b 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. caça
14. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. caça
15. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. caça
16. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. caça
17. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1609
18. ^ a b Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. caça
19. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. caça