cal

Forms

cal f or (nonstandard) m (usually uncountable, plural cales or cais)^[1] Houaiss records the old spellings call (1377) and caall (15th century), and gives the plural as cales or cais.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin cals (“lime”), the form of Latin calx (“lime, limestone”) that Varro already writes, and appears as Old Galician-Portuguese cal in the oldest texts.^[2][1][3] Houaiss adds that the word probably came into Portuguese through Spanish cal, which Corominas first finds about 1250.^[2][4] Meyer-Lübke instead took the Spanish and the Portuguese word from Catalan calç, and Nascentes follows him.^[5][6] Wiktionary and the DLP give the plain inheritance from Latin.^[1][7]

The same Latin word is Italian calce, French chaux and Occitan caus, and German borrowed it as Kalk.^[5][1]

De Vaan takes the Latin noun as a loan from Ancient Greek χάλιξ (khálix, “small stone, gravel”), or from some other Mediterranean language that gave both words.^[3] Houaiss and Wiktionary trace it to the Greek word.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first records are from the 13th century.^[2] The Cantigas de Santa Maria use the word in the language of masons: stones set ben como pedra con cal “like stone with lime”, a master de pedra põer con cal “at laying stone with lime”, pedra e cal e arẽa “stone and lime and sand”, and por britaren pedra ou por fazer cal “to break stone or to make lime”.^[8][9] The sense is already the building material made by burning stone.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The old Latin–Portuguese dictionaries render the word with Latin calx, and Barbosa (1611) adds caleiro, the man who makes lime.^[10][11] Bluteau (1712) describes it as burnt stone turned into white lumps that fall to powder, and lists lime mixed with sand for building and the lime kiln.^[12] Vieira (1871) treats it as a substance found everywhere in nature, chiefly in compounds, and Figueiredo (1899) defines it chemically as the protoxide of calcium.^[13][14]

The older Caldas Aulete already distinguishes cal viva or cal virgem, the lime not combined with water, from cal extinta or cal apagada, the slaked lime.^[15] Houaiss lists many more technical kinds, such as cal hidráulica, made from clayey limestone, which hardens under water.^[2] In Portugal a 1967 survey recorded a white lime used only for whitewashing beside a cheaper black lime used in building.^[16] Cal is also a surname, at first a nickname taken from the noun.^[17]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records, according to Houaiss.^[2]
• 1377 – spelt call.^[2]
• c. 1430 – in the Horto do Esposo (a witness of 1390–1437).^[18]
• 15th century – spelt caall.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary renders cal with Latin calx.^[10]
• 1611 – Barbosa adds caleiro “lime-burner”.^[11]
• 1712 – Bluteau describes the burning of stone into lime and the mortar of lime and sand.^[12]
• 1871 – Vieira derives the word from Latin calx.^[13]
• 1899 – Figueiredo defines it as the protoxide of calcium.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. lime: a white powder made chiefly of calcium oxide or hydroxide, used in building, ceramics, paints and water treatment: Misturaram a cal com areia para a argamassa.^[2][1][19]
2. Any product, powdery or pasty, obtained by adding water to quicklime.^[2][15]
3. In set phrases: cal viva or cal virgem “quicklime”, cal extinta, cal apagada or cal hidratada “slaked lime”, cal hidráulica “hydraulic lime”.^[2][20]

Related words

• calcário
• cálcio
• Latin calx
• Galician cal

Usage notes

Houaiss, Aurélio and Priberam also enter cal as the symbol of the caloria.^[2][19][20] A dialect word cal “small wooden channel of a mill” was recorded in Portugal in 1988;^[16][6] Nascentes explains this cal as a separate word, from Latin canalis.^[16][6]

In Old Galician-Portuguese cal was also a noun meaning “street”, in the Cantigas de Santa Maria, and a verb form in the phrase non m' en cal “I don't care”, which the glossary of the Cancioneiro da Ajuda traces to Latin non mihi inde calet.^[8][21]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. cal
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cal
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1533
6. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 88
7. ^ 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. cal
8. ^ 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. cal
9. ^ 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. cal1
10. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cal
11. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cal
12. ^ 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. cal
13. ^ a b Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 2, 35
14. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 228
15. ^ a b 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. cal
16. ^ a b c 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. cal
17. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1952), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 2: Nomes próprios, Rio de Janeiro, p. s.v. cal
18. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. cal
19. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. cal
20. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. cal
21. ^ 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. cal3