cadela

Forms

cadela f (plural cadelas)^[1] Old forms are cadellas (1161) and, in the 15th century, cadela and cadella.^[2] Cunha records cadella in the 16th century.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin catella (“little bitch, lapdog”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cadela in the cantigas.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin word is the feminine of catellus (“puppy, young dog”), itself a diminutive of catulus (“whelp”).^[5][6][1] Houaiss stresses that it has no connection with canis (“dog”).^[2] In Portuguese the diminutive lost its sense of smallness and became the ordinary word for a female dog.^[7][8]

The masculine lives on as Romanian cățel, Catalan cadell and Occitan cadel, and the feminine as Galician cadela, Asturian cadiella, Catalan cadella and Romanian cățea.^[8][1] The REW notes that the feminine mostly means “young bitch” in Romance, and that only Romanian and Portuguese use it for a bitch in general.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's earliest date is 1161, for the plural cadellas, taken from Machado; the record may stand in a Latin document.^[2] In the Galician-Portuguese lyric a cantiga d'escarnho of Alfonso X has Penhoremos o daian / na cadela, polo can “let us seize the dean's bitch as a pledge for the dog”.^[4] Another satirical cantiga asks a man for a mastiff pera ũa mia cadela “for a bitch of mine”, where the word also carries the figurative sense “concubine”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Cardoso's dictionary of 1569 and Barbosa's of 1611 render the word by Latin canis and canicula, and Barbosa adds the diminutive cadelinha.^[10][11] The insulting use for a woman, already hinted at in the medieval satire, is recorded by Caldas Aulete as familiar, and modern dictionaries list it with the sense “prostitute”, which Houaiss marks as Brazilian.^[12][2][9] In Portugal the word is also an informal name for a bout of drunkenness and, regionally, for a rustic three-legged bench.^[13][14]

Timeline

• 1161 – The plural cadellas in a record cited by Houaiss from Machado, possibly in a Latin document.^[2]
• 13th century – cadela in a cantiga d'escarnho of Alfonso X.^[4]
• 15th century – the spellings cadela and cadella.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses Cadela with Latin canis and canicula.^[10]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists cadelinha beside cadela.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A female dog, a bitch: A cadela teve seis cachorros.^{[2][13][7][1]}
2. (pejorative) A woman regarded as vile or of loose behaviour.^[2][7][14]
3. (pejorative) A prostitute.^[2][13][15] Houaiss labels this sense Brazilian.^[2]
4. (Portugal, informal) A bout of drunkenness.^[13][14]
5. (Portugal, regional) A rustic three-legged bench, usually made of holm-oak or cork-oak branches, used by farm workers in the fields.^[13]

Related words

• cachorro
• cão
• Latin catella
• Galician cadela

Usage notes

In Brazil cadela de rua “street bitch” is used as a stronger form of the insult.^[2] The usual Brazilian word for a dog of either sex is cachorro, and cachorra is a synonym of cadela.^[1][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. cadela
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. cadela
4. ^ a b c 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. cadela
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. catella
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. catellus
7. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. cadela
8. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1763
9. ^ a b Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. cadela
10. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cadela
11. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cadela
12. ^ 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. cadela
13. ^ a b c d e 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. cadela
14. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. cadela
15. ^ 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. cadela
16. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. cadela