candeia

Forms

candeia f (plural candeias)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote candea and cãdea.^[2][3] Houaiss records cãdea in the 14th century, camdea in the 15th and the modern candeia from the 16th.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin candēla (“tallow candle, taper”), written Old Galician-Portuguese candea in the oldest texts.^[2][4][1] The medieval form has already lost the Latin -l- between vowels; the modern spelling, with the glide, is Houaiss's form of the 16th century.^[2][3] Its learned doublet, borrowed later from the same Latin word, is listed under Related words.^[1]

The same Latin word is Galician candea, Spanish candela, Catalan candela, Italian candela and French chandelle, and the English word candle comes from it too.^[5][1] García de Diego notes that the Portuguese word also names the pine needle.^[6]

The Latin noun is formed from candeō (“to shine, glow”) with the suffix -ēla.^[7][1] In Latin it was the light of the poor, set against the lucerna (“oil lamp”) of the rich, and Medieval Latin already used it for an oil lamp, the sense the Portuguese word took over.^[8][9][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria of the second half of the 13th century speak of pilgrims who go to burn candeas before the image of the Virgin, and of one who brought sas candeas / de çera, ca non de sevo “his candles of wax, not of tallow”.^[3] The cantigas d'amigo also mention burning candeas at shrines, and their editor notes that these were real wax candles, not oil lamps.^[3] The first sense is therefore “candle”.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

In the Crónica Geral the candea is the candle every Christian should hold in his hand at death, a use the DLP still records for the candle placed in the hands of the dying.^[3][10] Morais (1789) marks the sense “candle” as old and gives as the usual one a metal vessel that holds a light.^[11] The light of today's candeia is a small hanging lamp of tin or clay, filled with oil and fitted with a wick.^[2][12]

Among the transferred senses, Morais lists the candeia do castanheiro, the catkin from which the chestnut's burr forms, and the candeias de caramelo, icicles hanging from trees and roofs.^[13] Northern Portuguese dialects use the word for the chestnut's flowers and for dry pine needles.^[14][10] In Brazil it names several shrubs and trees of the daisy family.^[2] Houaiss quotes Nascentes's explanation that their dry wood burns with a clear, smokeless light and saves the poor the cost of oil.^[2] The plural candeias is the feast of Candlemas.^[15][16]

The word passed into the creoles: kandiâ in Kabuverdianu, kandia in Guinea-Bissau Creole, kandja in Sãotomense, and kandéa in Nheengatu.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century, second half – the Cantigas de Santa Maria have candeas, “wax candles”.^[3]
• c. 1430 – the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437) has candea.^[17]
• 16th century – first record of the spelling candeia.^[2]
• 1789 – Morais marks the sense “candle” as old and defines the lamp.^[11]
• 1813 – Morais lists the chestnut's candeia and the candeias de caramelo (icicles).^[13]
• 1899 – Figueiredo records the Brazilian adjective candeia “elegant”.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small rustic oil lamp of tin or clay with a spout for the wick, usually hung from a nail on the wall: Acendeu a candeia para ver o caminho.^[2][12][1]
2. (archaic) A wax candle, especially one placed in the hands of a dying person.^[2][10][1]
3. (Brazil, botany) Any of several shrubs and trees of the daisy family (genera Lychnophora, Piptocarpha, Vanillosmopsis) with resinous wood and medicinal leaves.^[2][12][1]
4. (regional, Portugal) The flowering catkin of the chestnut; dry pine needles on the ground.^[10][14]
5. (in the plural) Candlemas, the feast of the Purification.^[15][16]

Word family

• candeeiro

Related words

• candela
• candelabro
• candil
• encandear
• Latin candēla
• Galician candea

Usage notes

Andar de candeias às avessas com alguém means to be on bad terms with someone.^[13][18][12] Morais records it in 1813.^[13][18][12] The proverb candeia que vai à frente alumia duas vezes “the lamp that goes in front lights twice” means that whoever gets ahead does better.^[18][1]

Houaiss, Aurélio and Michaelis also record a Brazilian adjective candeia “elegant, dapper”, first listed by Figueiredo in 1899.^{[2][12][15][16]} Houaiss takes it, after Nascentes, from Guarani kãde'á “handsome”, and Figueiredo thought it perhaps Guarani, while the DLP derives it from the Latin word of the noun.^{[2][16][10][12][15]}

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. candeia
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. candea
4. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. candeia
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1578
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ 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. candeia
11. ^ 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, 224
12. ^ a b c d e f g Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. candeia
13. ^ a b c d Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 335
14. ^ a b 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. candeia
15. ^ a b c d 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. candeia
16. ^ 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. candeia
17. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. candea
18. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1732