cavilha

Forms

cavilha f (plural cavilhas)^[1]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Old Occitan cavilla (“peg”), as Aurélio, Michaelis and DELPo give it, while Wiktionary allows Italian caviglia as the source as well.^[2][3][4][1] The Occitan and Italian words go back to Vulgar Latin *cāvicla, a dissimilated form of Latin clāvicula (“small key; vine tendril”), the diminutive of clāvis (“key”).^[1][5][6] Nocentini takes the Italian word itself from Occitan.^[7]

Others count the word as inherited: Houaiss derives it from a Vulgar Latin cabicola, a divergent form of the Latin word, with the influence of the Occitan word, and the DLP and Porto Editora from the Vulgar Latin form.^{[8][9][10][11]} Vieira (1871) explained the -lh- as the regular outcome of -cl- between vowels, as in ovelha and olho.^{[8][9][10][11]} Wiktionary lists chavelha, cravelha and a learned form of the Latin word as doublets.^[1]

The same Latin word gave French cheville, Spanish clavija, Catalan clavilla and Galician chavella.^[6][12][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is a document of 1523.^[8] Morais quotes Damião de Góis's chronicle of King Manuel for ships built de cavilha, fastened with pegs.^[13]

Semantic evolution

Morais (1813) describes a wooden peg used like a nail to hold something in place, such as a wheel on its axle, or to fasten the timbers of ships.^[13] The older Caldas Aulete records bater a cavilha, the ceremony of driving the first peg into the main frame of a keel on the stocks.^[14] The sense widened to metal pins and bolts in machines, firearms and ships, to the tuning peg of a string instrument and, in Portugal, to the pin of an electric plug.^[8][10][2] In zoology it is the bony core of the horns of cattle.^[8][9] The dialects of northern Portugal use it for the wooden pins of the ox cart and the plough.^[15]

Timeline

• 1523 – first record.^[8]
• 1712 – Bluteau's dictionary has cavilhas.^[4]
• 1813 – Morais describes the wooden peg and quotes Góis.^[13]
• 1871 – Vieira derives it from the Latin word.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A peg or dowel of wood or metal used to join pieces or to stop a hole: Prendeu as tábuas com duas cavilhas.^[8][2][9][1]
2. (nautical) A metal or wooden bolt that joins parts of a ship's hull.^[8]
3. (firearms) A pin that holds an assembly or limits its movement; a chaveta.^[8]
4. (Portugal, electricity) The pin of a plug.^[2]
5. (music) A tuning peg of a string instrument.^[10]
6. (zoology) The bony core of a bovid's horn.^[8][9]

Related words

• chave
• chavelha
• clavícula
• Latin clāvicula
• French cheville
• Spanish clavija

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. cavilha
3. ^ 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. cavilha
4. ^ a b NEHiLP – Núcleo de Apoio à Pesquisa em Etimologia e História da Língua Portuguesa, Universidade de São Paulo, DELPo: Dicionário Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa (online database), p. s.v. cavilha
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ 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. cavilha
9. ^ 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. cavilha
10. ^ a b c d Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1918
11. ^ a b c 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, 156
12. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
13. ^ a b c Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 367
14. ^ 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. cavilha
15. ^ 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. cavilha