cima

Forms

cima f (plural cimas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cȳma (“young shoot of a cabbage”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cima in the oldest texts.^[2][1][3] In Vulgar Latin the word came to mean the part that stands out at the top of something.^[2] Medieval Latin, which also spelt it cima, used it for the top of a tree or of a hill.^[4]

The Latin word is from Ancient Greek κῦμα (kûma, “a swelling; wave; embryo; young shoot”), from κύω (kúō, “to be pregnant”).^[1][5]

The same Latin word is Galician cima, Spanish cima, Catalan cima, French cime and Italian cima.^[6][1] Corominas explains the sense “summit” from the meaning “top of plants” that the word has in Isidore.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first date, 870, is from a Latin charter, and Nascentes quotes such a charter with in cima de ipso viniale “at the top of that vineyard”.^[2][8] The Portuguese word is recorded from the 13th century.^[2] The Cantigas de Santa Maria use it chiefly in fixed phrases: de fond'a cima “from bottom to top, completely” and contra cima “upwards”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

In the medieval language cima meant both “top” and “end, conclusion”: dar cima and fazer cima a were “to bring to an end”, and ẽna cima “in the end”.^[9][10] Corominas notes that the cantigas do not use it of mountains, though the word is very common there in its grammatical uses.^[7] The prepositional phrases em cima de “on top of” and de cima “from above” are recorded from the 13th and the 14th century.^[2]

Bluteau already uses de cima for what comes from heaven or from God.^[11] A botanical sense, a kind of inflorescence (cimeira), is recorded from 1889.^[2] Brazilian informal speech has dar em cima de “to make a pass at someone”, and em cima do muro “sitting on the fence”.^[2][12]

Timeline

• 870 – a Latin charter has the Romance spelling çima.^[2]
• 13th century – first records of the Portuguese word and of em cima de.^[2]
• 14th century – first record of de cima.^[2]
• c. 1400 – cima in the Flos Sanctorum fragment of Santiago de Compostela.^[13]
• 1552 – the spelling sima.^[2]
• 1889 – the botanical sense “cyme”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The top, the highest part of something; summit (cume): a cima do monte.^{[2][12][3][1]}
2. (obsolete) End, conclusion: dar cima a “to finish”.^[2]
3. (botany, rare) A cyme, an inflorescence; cimeira.^[2][12]
4. em cima: above, on top;^[2][3] em cima de: on, upon;^[2][3] (Brazil, informal) assured, settled.^[2][3]
5. de cima: from above;^[2][12][3] (figurative) from heaven, from God; from the authorities.^[2][12][3]
6. por cima: over;^[2][14] ainda por cima “on top of that, what is more”.^[2][14]
7. ao de cima (Portugal): on the surface.^[2][14]

Word family

• acima
• cimeira

Related words

• cimo
• Latin cȳma
• Galician cima

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 u v w Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. cima
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. cima
4. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. cyma
5. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. κῦμα
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2438
7. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 76
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. 118
9. ^ a b 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. cima
10. ^ 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, 278
11. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cima
12. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. cima
13. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. cima
14. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. cima