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chumaço

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Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word chumaço

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1278 spelt chumaço More words from the 13th century
Inherited from
Latin plumacium
Ultimate origin
Latin pluma

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /ʃuˈma.su/[1]
  • Portugal: /ʃuˈma.su/[1]
  • Northern, Portugal: /t͡ʃuˈma.su/[1]

Forms

chumaço m (plural chumaços)[1] Medieval texts also have chomaço and chimaço.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin plūmācium (“feather bed, feather pillow”), from plūma (“feather”), written Old Galician-Portuguese chumaço in the oldest Portuguese texts.[4][1] Latin initial /pl/ became /tʃ/, spelt ⟨ch⟩.[5] Houaiss calls it the popular form beside the learned doublet plumaço.[4][1]

The same Latin word is Galician chumaço, Old Spanish llumazo and Italian piumaccio, and Spanish also has plumazo; a derivative is French plumasseau.[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Latin charters write the Romance form long before Portuguese texts: chomacio in 838, chomazo de lenzo lineo “a linen pillow” in a copy of 860, and plumacios in 959.[2][4] A will of 1262 bequeaths a bed cum sua coçedra et cum uno chomaço.[2] Houaiss dates the Portuguese spelling chumaço to 1278, in the sense “pillow, cushion”.[4]

Semantic evolution

The medieval word is a pillow or bolster: a Lamego will of 1314 asks to be buried with senhos chumaços and white coverlets.[3] Cardoso (1569) renders it with Latin cervical “pillow”, and Folqman (1755) adds the pad used in bloodletting.[7][8] Vieira gives “pillow stuffed with feathers” and, by extension, “mattress”.[5] From the stuffing the word passed to the padding put between the lining and the cloth of a garment, a wad of cotton for dressings, and a swelling.[4][9] In Brazil it is the block of wood in which the axle of an ox cart turns and squeaks, and in the Minho it means dry pine needles.[4][10]

Timeline

  • 838 – chomacio in a Latin charter.[2]
  • 959 – plumacios in a Latin charter, Houaiss's first date.[2][4]
  • 1262 – a will written in Latin has chomaço and chumaço.[2]
  • 1278 – first record of the Portuguese spelling chumaço.[4]
  • 1314 – a will of Lamego: senhos chumaços.[3]
  • 1359 – the form chimaço.[2]
  • 1569 – Cardoso renders it with Latin cervical.[7]
  • 1755 – Folqman records chumaço da sangria.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A wad, a small compact mass of soft material such as cotton wool, gauze or hair.[4][1]
  2. Padding (enchimento) put between the lining and the cloth of a garment to shape it; a shoulder pad.[4][11][1]
  3. Any soft material used to stuff or upholster something.[4][12]
  4. (rare) A small cushion or pillow.[4][11]
  5. A pad of cotton or gauze used in dressings, a compress (compressa).[4][12]
  6. A swelling or lump.[4][13]
  7. (slang) A bore, a nuisance.[4][13]
  8. (Brazil) The wooden bearing in which the axle of an ox cart turns.[4][12]
  9. (Minho) Dry pine needles (caruma).[4][14]

Word family

  • chumaçar
  • chumaceira
  • chumacete
  • pluma
  • plumaço
  • Latin plūma
  • Galician chumaço

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. chumaço
  3. ^ a b c Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 273
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. chumaço
  5. ^ 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, 223
  6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6611
  7. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. chumaço
  8. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. chumaço
  9. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. chumaço
  10. ^ 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. chumaço
  11. ^ 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. chumaço
  12. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. chumaço
  13. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2057
  14. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. chumaço

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Chumaço.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/chuma%C3%A7o. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

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