cigarra

Forms

cigarra f (plural cigarras)^[1]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Vulgar Latin *cicāra, a variant of cicāda (“cicada”).^[2][1][3] Houaiss calls the origin disputed: Cunha follows Corominas, who posits the variant for Spanish cigarra and holds that this Mediterranean word had it already in Latin, while Machado starts from a pre-Roman form related to the Latin word.^[4][5] Vieira (1871) and Figueiredo (1899) took a different path, through a diminutive like the *cicāla behind French cigale, with -l- turned to -r-.^[6][7] The DLE also derives the Spanish word from that form, with the influence of the insect's sound.^[8] DELPo derives the Portuguese word from the Spanish word.^[9]

The Spanish word is recorded from about 1250, while Catalan cigala, Occitan cigala and Italian cicala have the form with -l-.^[5][10] García de Diego notes that the form with -l- is already found in the Latin glossaries.^[11]

De Vaan takes the Latin word for an onomatopoeic formation with reduplication, like cicōnia (“stork”), and perhaps a loanword.^[12] Wiktionary thinks of a lost Mediterranean substrate.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in Cardoso's Latin–Portuguese dictionary of 1562;^[4][2] Cunha puts it in the 16th century.^[4][2] Cardoso's dictionary of 1569 glosses it with Latin cicada, and Barbosa (1611) adds cantar a cigarra “the cicada sings”.^[13][14]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712) describes the insect at length and blames on it the noise that “disturbs the pleasant silence of the countryside” in summer.^[15] Morais (1813) refers the reader to cega-rega, the other popular name of the insect.^[16][4]

From the sound the word passed to a children's toy, a cane covered with a skin and turned on a string to give a shrill note, and in Brazil to an electric buzzer.^[17][4][18] Figurative uses are a person who saves nothing and, in popular speech, a woman who loves to sing.^[4][18][19] In Brazil it also names several fishes, the coffee cicada and, jokingly, a husband who stays in town while his wife is away on holiday.^[4]

Timeline

• 1562 – Cardoso's dictionary lists cigarra.^[4]
• 1611 – Barbosa has cantar a cigarra.^[14]
• 1712 – Bluteau describes the insect.^[15]
• 1813 – Morais refers the word to cega-rega.^[16]
• 1871 – Vieira derives it through a form cicala.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cicada, any of the large insects of the family Cicadidae whose males sing loudly in the hot season; cega-rega.^[4][1][3]
2. (Brazil) The coffee cicada, Quesada gigas, and similar large species.^[4][17]
3. (Brazil) Any of several other large homopterans, such as treehoppers, froghoppers and lanternflies.^[4][17]
4. (Brazil, ichthyology) Any of several freshwater fishes.^[4][20]
5. A slipper lobster.^[4][17]
6. (Brazil) An electric bell (campainha) with a shrill buzz.^[4][20]
7. (figurative) A person who saves nothing and never thinks ahead.^[4][18]
8. (Brazil, jocular) A husband who enjoys his freedom in town while his wife is away on holiday.^[4]
9. A toy made of a cane that gives a shrill whistle.^[4][18]
10. (popular) A woman who loves to sing.^[18][19]

Word family

• cigarrinha

Related words

• Spanish cigarra
• Catalan cigala

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. cigarra
3. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. cigarra
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. cigarra
5. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 72
6. ^ 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, 229
7. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. cigarra
8. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. cigarra
9. ^ 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. cigarra
10. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cigarra
11. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. cicada
12. ^ 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. cicāda
13. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cigarra
14. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cigarra
15. ^ 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. cigarra
16. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 396
17. ^ a b c d 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. cigarra
18. ^ 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. cigarra
19. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2082
20. ^ a b 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. cigarra