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caldeira

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Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word caldeira

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1242–1252 spelt caldeyras More words from the 13th century
Inherited from
Latin caldaria
Ultimate origin
Latin caldus
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin caldārius
Latin caldāria
French chaudière
English chowder
Italian caldaia
Portuguese caldeira
Spanish caldera
From the same root
Latin caldārium ← caldārius
English cauldron ← caldāria
French chaudron ← caldāria

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /kawˈde(j).ɾɐ/, [kaʊ̯ˈde(ɪ̯).ɾɐ][1]
  • Portugal: /kalˈdɐj.ɾɐ/, [kaɫˈdɐj.ɾɐ][1]
  • Northern, Portugal: /kalˈdej.ɾɐ/, [kaɫˈdej.ɾɐ][1]
  • Central, Portugal: /kalˈdej.ɾɐ/, [kaɫˈdej.ɾɐ][1]

Forms

caldeira f (plural caldeiras, diminutive caldeirinha)[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote caldeira and caldeyra.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin caldāria (“cooking pot”), written Old Galician-Portuguese caldeyra in the oldest texts.[2][4][1] The Latin word meant a hot bath, a vessel for hot water and a stove, and is formed from Latin caldus (“hot”), the syncopated form of calidus.[2][1][5] It is a doublet of caldeiro.[1]

The same Latin word is Galician caldeira, Spanish caldera, Catalan caldera, Italian caldaia, French chaudière and Romanian căldare.[6][1] In northern Portugal and Galicia it also came to mean a small irrigation ditch.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Latin record of uncertain date, perhaps 910, lists kalderas among household goods.[3] The vernacular word appears in a text of 1242–1252 as caldeyras, and Machado had it from 1276 as a nickname.[3] The Cantigas de Santa Maria compare a well that fervia ben come caldeira “boiled just like a cauldron”, and also speak of the cauldron of hell.[3]

Semantic evolution

In the cantigas d'escarnho the word is also the cauldron painted on the banner of a rico-homem, the sign that he could feed and pay the men he raised for war;[3][7] Afonso X mocks a noble who came pendon sen caldeira “with banner but no cauldron”, and a coarse cantiga uses it for the vagina.[3][7] Viterbo explains the pendão e caldeira of the old nobility, and Morais still records the ricos homens de pendão e caldeira.[8][9]

Morais (1789) adds the hollow at the bottom of a cistern, the basin dug round a tree to hold water, and a small harbour where ships are repaired; in 1813 he adds the copper pan of the sugar mills.[10][9] With the steam engine came the boiler of machines and ships, and geology uses the word for a volcanic caldera.[2][11] In Portuguese popular belief caldeira de Pero Botelho is hell.[12][13]

Timeline

  • 910? – kalderas in a Latin record of uncertain date.[3]
  • 1242–1252 – caldeyras.[3]
  • 1276 – Caldeira as a nickname.[3]
  • 13th century, second half – the Cantigas de Santa Maria and the cantigas d'escarnho.[3]
  • 1569 – Cardoso glosses Caldeira as Latin ahenum.[14]
  • 1712–1728 – Bluteau describes a large copper vessel used also by dyers, and the caldeira de cisterna.[15]
  • 1789 – Morais adds the hollow round trees and the small harbour.[10]
  • 1813 – Morais adds the boiling pan of sugar mills.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A large metal cauldron or vessel for heating water and other liquids or for cooking.[2][11][1]
  2. A boiler, the closed vessel that makes steam for an engine or heats water for heating: A caldeira do navio avariou.[2][16][1]
  3. A hollow in the bottom of a pond, tank or cistern.[2][11]
  4. A basin dug round the foot of a tree to hold water or manure.[2][17]
  5. (geology) A caldera, a wide volcanic crater formed by collapse.[11][1]
  6. (nautical) A small sheltered inlet or dock for boats.[2][17][1]
  7. (printing) A crisol.[2][11]
  8. (historical) The cauldron emblem of a rico-homem.[13][12]

Word family

  • caldeirão
  • caldeireiro
  • caldeirada
  • caldeirinha

Usage notes

Caldeira de Pero Botelho is a Portuguese name for hell.[12][13] In the River Plate region of Brazil the word means a kettle, as Spanish caldera does there.[18]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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. caldeira
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. caldeira
  4. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. caldeira
  5. ^ 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, 44
  6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. caldaria
  7. ^ 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. caldeira
  8. ^ Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 226
  9. ^ a b c Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 325
  10. ^ 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, 216
  11. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. caldeira
  12. ^ a b c 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. caldeira
  13. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1671
  14. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. caldeira
  15. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. caldeira
  16. ^ 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. caldeira
  17. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. caldeira
  18. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. caldeira

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Caldeira.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/caldeira. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

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