cereja

Forms

cereja f (plural cerejas)^[1] Houaiss records the spelling cerejia in 1331 and cereija and çireja in the 15th century.^[2] Cunha has çereija in the 15th century.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin ceresia (“cherries”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cereija in the old language.^[2][3][1] The Vulgar Latin word was the neuter plural of ceresium, taken as a feminine singular; that form is a variant of Latin cerasium (“cherry”), the classical word.^[4][1] Houaiss and Cunha both think the Portuguese word may have been shaped by Old Spanish ceresa, recorded about 1250, the older form of the Spanish word.^[2][3]

The same Vulgar Latin word is Galician cereixa, Spanish cereza, Catalan cirera, Occitan cerièisa, French cerise and Italian ciliegia.^[1][5]

The Latin word was borrowed from Ancient Greek κεράσιον (kerásion, “cherry”), formed from κερασός (kerasós, “cherry tree”) with the suffix -ιον (-ion).^[1][6] The Greek word may come from a language of Asia Minor.^[4] An old story, repeated by Vieira in 1871, links the name with the city of Cerasus on the Black Sea, from where Lucullus is said to have brought the tree to Italy; the DHLF also reports that he brought it to Rome.^[7][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record, from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese, is cerejia in 1331, and the sense is the fruit of the cherry tree.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Cardoso's dictionary of 1569 and Barbosa's of 1611 simply translate the word by Latin cerasum.^[8][9] Bluteau describes the fruit and its stone and praises its medicinal virtues, and Folqman (1755) and Morais (1813) name the large cerejas de saco beside the ordinary and the wild ones.^[10][11][12] The tree, cerejeira, is recorded as cereygeyra in the 16th century, and Cunha has the adjective cereyjado about 1608.^[3]

The word also names the colour, as a noun and as an invariable adjective (vermelho-cereja), and similar fruits of other plants.^[2][13] In Brazil it is a Brazilian tree of the myrtle family (Eugenia retusa) and, in São Paulo, the ripe coffee berry still in its husk, sold as café em cereja.^[2][14][15] Veterinary use gave it the sense of a red fleshy growth on a horse's hoof, which Silva Bastos already records in 1912.^[16][17]

Timeline

• 1331 – first record, spelt cerejia.^[2]
• 15th century – the spellings cereija, çereija and çireja.^[2][3]
• 1569 – Cardoso's Portuguese–Latin dictionary heads the word Cereja.^[8]
• c. 1608 – the adjective cereyjado.^[3]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau describes the fruit and its uses in medicine.^[10]
• 1755 – Folqman lists cerejas de saco.^[11]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira derives the word from the city of Cerasus.^[7]
• 1881 – the first Caldas Aulete records the São Paulo sense “coffee berry in its husk” and the Brazilian tree.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Brazil) A tree of the myrtle family (Eugenia retusa) native to southern Brazil, with smooth green bark and hard wood.^[2][18]
2. cherry, the fruit of the cerejeira: Comprámos um quilo de cerejas no mercado.^[2][19][1]
3. Any fruit that looks like a cherry.^[2][14]
4. (Brazil, São Paulo) The ripe coffee berry with its husk, before drying.^[2][14]
5. (veterinary) A red fleshy growth on the hoof of a horse or mule.^[17][20]
6. (masculine) The colour of cherries, a dark red.^[2][13]

Adjective

1. Cherry-coloured, dark red (invariable): sapatos cereja.^[2][19][1]

Word family

• cerejeira

Related words

• Latin cerasium
• Galician cereixa

Usage notes

Priberam gives three pronunciations of the stressed vowel, with /ɐ/, /e/ or /ɐj/.^[17]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. cereja
3. ^ a b c d e f g Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. cereja
4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. cerise
5. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 44
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. cerasium
7. ^ 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, 175
8. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cereja
9. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cereja
10. ^ 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. cereja
11. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cereja
12. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 375
13. ^ a b c 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. cereja
14. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. cereja
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. cereja
16. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. cereja
17. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. cereja
18. ^ 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. cereja
19. ^ a b 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. cereja
20. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1965