cerveja

Forms

cerveja f (plural cervejas)^[1] Houaiss records cerveja and çerveija in the 15th century, and Nascentes cites the archaic cerveija from Nunes.^[2][3] Wiktionary lists cerveija and the clipped ceva as other forms.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cervēsia (“beer”), also written cerevisia, first recorded in the 15th century.^[2][4][3][1] The Latin word is of Gaulish origin and is first found in Pliny.^[2][5][1] Wiktionary takes it from a derivative of Proto-Celtic *kurmi, akin to Cornish korev (“beer, ale”).^[1] De Vaan sees in it a Celtic form going back to *kormi-, the source of Gaulish curmi, Old Irish cuirm and Welsh cwrwf, all meaning “beer”, and compares Latin cremō (“to burn”).^[6]

The same Latin word is Spanish cerveza, Catalan cervesa, Occitan cervesa and Old French cervoise.^[7][1] The Spanish word is recorded as Old Spanish servesa in 1482 and cerbeça in 1535.^[8] Houaiss notes that in Italian and French the inherited word gave way to Italian birra and French bière (1429), the latter from Dutch bier; the Germanic words for “beer” seem to share one etymon of uncertain origin.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to the 15th century, from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese, in the spellings cerveja and çerveija.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Pereira (1697) glosses it with Latin zythum and cervisia.^[9] Morais (1813) describes a drink of sprouted and boiled grain, usually barley, with a herb added for a mild bitterness, and notes that the Portuguese drank it in old times.^[10] Vieira (1871) names English beer and Bavarian beer, and the old Caldas Aulete has cerveja de barril “draught beer” and cerveja preta “dark beer”.^[11][12]

By metonymy the word also names a bottle or can of beer and its contents, and in informal European Portuguese a slap in the face.^[2][13] It passed into Kabuverdianu serveja and Tetum serveja.^[1]

Timeline

• 15th century – first record, spelt cerveja and çerveija.^[2]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses it zythum, cervisia.^[9]
• 1755 – Folqman glosses it cerevisia.^[14]
• 1813 – Morais describes how it is made.^[10]
• 1871 – Vieira calls cervesia an old Celtic word taken into Latin.^[11]
• 1899 – Figueiredo defines a drink of hops and barley or other cereals.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. beer, a fermented drink made from barley malt and flavoured with hops: No verão bebe-se muita cerveja.^[2][4][1]
2. A bottle, can or glass of beer: Pediu duas cervejas e um sumo.^[2][13][4]
3. (Portugal, informal) A slap in the face.^[2]

Word family

• cervejaria
• cervejeiro
• cervejota
• cervejinha

Related words

• Latin cervesia
• Spanish cerveza

Usage notes

In Portugal the stressed vowel is often pronounced [ɐ] or [ɐj], while Brazil has [e].^[16][17][1] In Brazil cerveja choca is flat beer; in Portugal it is beer served too cold.^[2]

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 k Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. cerveja
3. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 110
4. ^ 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. cerveja
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. cervesia
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. cremō
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1830
8. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 56
9. ^ a b Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cerveja
10. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 377
11. ^ 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, 181
12. ^ 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. cerveja
13. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. cerveja
14. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cerveja
15. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 279
16. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1974
17. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. cerveja