camisa

Forms

camisa f (plural camisas)^[1] Medieval texts also write camysa (1337), camissa (14th century) and camjsas (Crónica Geral).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin camisia, written Old Galician-Portuguese camisa in the oldest texts.^[2][1][3] The Latin word is rare and late: its first clear record is in Jerome, as the name soldiers gave to their close-fitting linen garments.^[4][5][6] Houaiss repeats the old explanation, quoted by Lewis & Short from Isidore, that it was a garment for sleeping in the beds called cama.^[2][6]

The same Latin word is Galician camisa, Spanish camisa, Catalan camisa, French chemise, Italian camicia and Romanian cămașă.^[7][1]

Its earlier origin is debated: the REW, Nascentes, Lewis & Short and the DLE call the Latin word Celtic.^[4][6][8] Corominas relates it to Old High German hemidi and Old English cemes and thinks it reached Latin from Germanic through Celtic.^[9][10] Wiktionary derives it from Proto-West Germanic *hamiþi (“shirt”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱem- (“to cover”).^[1] Nascentes lists the proposals of older writers only as history: a Punic, an Egyptian and an Arabic origin.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Latin charters already name the garment: one of 1026 has kamisso and one of 1075 prices a field in precio una camisa “for the price of one shirt”.^[3][2] A document of 1262 still pays pro reuora una camisa.^[3] In the vernacular cantigas it is the shirt worn next to the skin: Estevan da Guarda mocks a woman who trage camisa / de sirgo “wears a silk shirt”, and in the Cantigas de Santa Maria the Jews leave the Virgin's image na camisa.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa (1611) distinguishes camisa de molher and camisa de abanos, a shirt with a ruffled collar.^[11] Morais (1789) records camisa mourisca, the old dress of women, em camisa “in one's shirt only”, tomar a mulher em camisa “to marry a woman without a dowry”, and camisa de cobra “the slough of a snake”.^[12]

From the idea of a close covering came the technical senses: the coat of mortar on a wall, the husk of an ear of maize, the felt of a hat, a layer of salt in the salt pans and, marked as old, the curtain wall of a fortress, all in Figueiredo's dictionary of 1899.^[13] Houaiss adds the cartridge bag and the jacket of a bullet in old firearms, and the liner of an engine cylinder.^[2] In Brazil the word also names a woman's nightdress.^[1][14]

The word passed into the Portuguese-based creoles, as kamisa in Kabuverdianu, kamisa in Guinea-Bissau Creole, kameza in Kristang and kaminza in Sãotomense, and into Sranan Tongo kamisa and Nheengatu kamixá.^[1]

Timeline

• 1026 – kamisso in a Latin charter.^[3]
• 1075 – una camisa in a Latin charter, the first date Houaiss gives.^[3][2]
• 13th century – the cantigas of Estevan da Guarda and Johan Garcia de Guilhade and the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[3]
• 1262 – pro reuora una camisa in a document.^[3]
• 1337 – the spelling camysas.^[3][2]
• 1344 – ssenõ das camisas “but for their shirts” in the chronicle of 1344.^[3]
• 1525 – the Memorial da Infanta Santa Joana uses the word.^[15]
• 1569 – Cardoso translates Camisa as Latin subucula and indusium.^[16]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists camisa de molher and camisa de abanos.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais records camisa de cobra and tomar a mulher em camisa.^[12]
• 1899 – Figueiredo lists the technical senses.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A shirt, a garment with long or short sleeves for the upper body, usually buttoned down the front: Vestiu uma camisa azul para a entrevista.^[2][17][1]
2. A woman's undergarment worn next to the skin;^[2][14][1] (Brazil) a nightgown.^[2][14][1]
3. A covering, casing or wrapper of anything; the husk of an ear of maize (milho).^[2][17]
4. (construction) A coat of mortar or plaster on a wall.^[2][13]
5. (mechanical engineering) The metal sleeve of an engine cylinder.^[2][18]
6. (hat-making) The felt that is shaped and finished after fulling.^[2][13]
7. (salt-making) The layer of salt left on the bottom of the salt pans.^[2][13]
8. The slough of a snake.^[12][17]

Word family

• camisa-verde
• camisinha

Related words

• camiseta
• Latin camisia
• Galician camisa

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. camisa
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. camisa
4. ^ 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. s.v. camisa
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, 66
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1550
8. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es
9. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 787
10. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
11. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. camisa
12. ^ a b c 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, 222
13. ^ a b c d e Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. camisa
14. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. camisa
15. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. camisa
16. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. camisa
17. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. camisa
18. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. camisa