chumbo

Forms

chumbo m (plural chumbos)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin plumbum (“lead”), written Old Galician-Portuguese chunbo in 1266, Old Galician-Portuguese chumbo before 1279 and also Old Galician-Portuguese chubo in the 14th century.^[2][1] Corominas calls the Portuguese word the regular outcome of the Latin word, with the initial /pl/ turned into the sound spelt ⟨ch⟩;^[3][4] Spanish kept the cluster in Spanish plomo, which Meyer-Lübke took for a borrowing from Catalan and Cuervo perhaps from Aragonese.^[3][4] The word is pronounced with /tʃ/ in northern Portugal and with /ʃ/ elsewhere.^[1] The same Latin word gave the doublet prumo “plumb line”.^[4][5][1]

The Latin word is also Galician chumbo, Catalan plom, Occitan plom, French plomb, Italian piombo and Romanian plumb.^[4][1] Corominas notes that the Galician form is the same, beside a variant Galician chombo around Lugo.^[3][5]

The Latin noun was traditionally compared with Ancient Greek μόλυβδος (mólubdos, “lead”).^[6][1] De Vaan follows Beekes in rejecting that link and connecting it rather with Proto-Celtic *ɸloudom (“lead”), the source of Old Irish lúaide; since the Latin form cannot come regularly from the same preform, he takes it to be a loanword, perhaps the word that also lies behind the Berber name of lead.^[7][1] Nascentes cites Walde for an Iberian or northern origin, and the DHLF a Mediterranean, perhaps Iberian, language, as lead came from Spain.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first records, chunbo in 1266 and chumbo before 1279, come from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese.^[2] In the medieval prose of the CTA the word first appears in the Visão de Túndalo, in a manuscript of 1431–1446.^[10] These records name the metal.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Cardoso and Barbosa gloss the word with Latin plumbum, and Barbosa adds cousa de chumbo “made of lead”, Latin plumbeus.^[11][12] Bluteau calls lead the softest, most brittle and least valued of the metals, and lists the lead ball of a gun.^[13] Morais (1813) records os chumbos da rede, the weights that sink a fishing net.^[14] Figueiredo (1899) has shot for small game, the figurative sense “something very heavy”, the familiar sense “good sense, judgement” and, in school slang, a failure in an examination.^[15]

In Brazilian informal speech chumbo is gunfire or a bullet (tomar chumbo “to be shot”), a use also known in Uruguay.^[2][16] In Portugal the school sense lives on, with chumbo also the rejection of a vote or a proposal.^[1][17] The colour of the metal gave an invariable adjective, and printing used the word for the alloy of lead, antimony and tin from which type was cast.^[2]

Timeline

• 1266 – chunbo, the first record.^[2]
• before 1279 – the spelling chumbo.^[2]
• 14th century – chubo.^[2]
• 1431–1446 – chumbo in the manuscript of the Visão de Túndalo.^[10]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses Chumbo with plumbum.^[11]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau lists the lead ball of a gun.^[13]
• 1813 – Morais records the lead weights of a fishing net.^[14]
• 1899 – Figueiredo records the sense “failure in an examination” as school slang.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. (chemistry) lead, the metallic element of atomic number 82 (symbol Pb).^[2][18][1]
2. shot: the small pellets of lead in a hunting cartridge.^[2][18][1]
3. (fishing) A lead weight on a line or net, a chumbeira.^[2][18]
4. Small lead plates sewn into the hem of a garment to make it hang well.^[2][18]
5. (figurative) Something very heavy;^[2][18] (informal) a heavy, tiring subject.^[2][18]
6. (figurative, informal) Good sense, judgement.^[2][18][15]
7. (Brazil, informal) A gunshot, a bullet, gunfire.^[2][16]
8. The dark grey colour of the metal; as an invariable adjective, lead-coloured.^[2]
9. (printing) type metal, the alloy of lead, antimony and tin used to cast type.^[2]
10. (dentistry) A filling.^[1]
11. (Portugal, informal) A fail in an examination; the rejection of a vote or proposal.^[1][17][19]

Word family

• achumbar
• chumbada
• chumbar
• chumbeira
• chumbeiro
• chumbinho
• pé-de-chumbo

Related words

• prumo
• plúmbeo
• Latin plumbum
• Galician chumbo
• Spanish plomo

Usage notes

In Brazil comer chumbo and tomar chumbo mean to be shot, and cuspir chumbo to open fire;^[2] levar chumbo is to fail.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. chumbo
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 582
4. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6615
5. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. plumbum
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. plumbum
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 116
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. plomb
10. ^ a b Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. chumbo
11. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. chumbo
12. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. chumbo
13. ^ 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. chumbo
14. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 393
15. ^ a b c Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 296
16. ^ a b Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. chumbo
17. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2058
18. ^ a b c d e f g Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. chumbo
19. ^ 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. chumbo