cinta

Forms

cinta f (plural cintas)^[1] Houaiss records cintam in a Latin charter of 1154, cita and symta in the 14th century and senta before 1748.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cincta, the feminine of cinctus (“girded”), the past participle of cingō (“to gird, surround”), used as a noun.^[2][3][4] Wiktionary takes it instead from the Late Latin plural of cinctum, a variant of the same participle.^[1] Medieval Latin used it, also spelt cinta, for a belt and for an enclosure.^[5][6] Ferreira's first edition and the DLP derive it from cinto.^[7][8]

The same Latin participle is Spanish cinta, recorded from 1012 and still a participle in the Poem of the Cid and in Berceo.^[9][10] De Vaan reconstructs *keng- for the Latin verb.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first date, 1154, is a Latin charter with the form cintam.^[2] In the vernacular the word appears in the 13th century, in Cunha and in the cantigas.^[3] Afonso X asks “why they wear these silken belts” (por que tragem estas cintas sirgadas), and in a cantiga d'amigo of King Dinis a girl speaks of “this belt that I wear for his love” (esta cinta que por seu amor cingo).^[12] Carolina Michaëlis noted that a belt given by a lady to her troubadour is a love-token in many cantigas.^[13]

Semantic evolution

The Cantigas de Santa Maria already use it for the waist itself, in mais de la cinta suso “further up than the waist”, and for the belt on which keys hang.^[13] Viterbo records it for the cord with which priests girded the alb.^[14] Bluteau defines it as anything woven that girds a part of the body, also the waist (pôr a espada à cinta “to put on one's sword”), and in architecture a band on a column or pedestal.^[15]

Figueiredo (1899) adds the band of paper round newspapers or books sent by post, and the timbers that gird a ship from bow to stern.^[16] The 20th century brought the elastic women's girdle that shapes the hips and waist, and the paper band with publicity round a new book.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 1154 – cintam in a Latin charter.^[2]
• 13th century – cinta “belt” in the cantigas of Afonso X and Dinis.^[12]
• 14th century – the spellings cita and symta.^[2]
• 1416 – cinta in the Vida de Santo Aleixo.^[17]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau records the architectural sense.^[15]
• 1881 – first record of cintar.^[3]
• 1899 – Figueiredo records the paper band for posting newspapers.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A belt or sash tied round the waist; cinto.^[2][4][1]
2. The waist (cintura): A saia apertava-lhe a cinta.^[4][18]
3. The waistband of a garment; cós.^[4][19]
4. A strip of cloth, leather or metal used to bind or hold things together; a band: uma cinta de aço à volta do fardo.^[4][20][1]
5. A band of paper round a newspaper or book to be posted, or round a new book with publicity about it.^[4]
6. A girdle, an elastic undergarment that shapes the hips, belly and waist; an elastic band that supports the abdomen after surgery.^[2][18]
7. (architecture) A fillet or band on a column or pedestal.^[20][15]
8. (nautical) A wale, a timber that girds a wooden ship from bow to stern.^[20][16]

Word family

• cintar

Related words

• cintura
• cinto
• cingir
• Latin cingō
• Spanish cinta

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. cinta
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. cinta
4. ^ a b c d e f g Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. cinta
5. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. cincta
6. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. s.v. cincta
7. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda (1975), Novo dicionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, p. 351
8. ^ 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. cinta
9. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 87
10. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cinta
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b Lopes, Graça Videira; Ferreira, Manuel Pedro et al. (2011–), Cantigas Medievais Galego-Portuguesas [online database], Lisboa: Instituto de Estudos Medievais, FCSH/NOVA, https://cantigas.fcsh.unl.pt, p. s.v. cinta
13. ^ 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. cinta
14. ^ 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
15. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cinta
16. ^ a b c Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 300
17. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. cinta
18. ^ a b 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. cinta
19. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2097
20. ^ a b c 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. cinta