costura

Forms

costura f (plural costuras)^[1] Beside costura the medieval texts also have custura.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *cōnsūtūra (“seam, sewing”), a noun not recorded in Latin texts and formed on cōnsūtus, the past participle of cōnsuō (“to sew together”).^[3][2][4][1] The verb is made of con- and suō (“to sew”).^[1] Nascentes explains the Portuguese form by the simplification of the cluster /ns/ and the loss of the /u/ before the stress.^[4] The Porto Editora dictionary alone routes the word through Old French costure.^[5]

The same noun is Galician costura, Spanish costura, Catalan costura, Old Occitan cosdura, French couture and Italian costura.^[3][6][7] The learned sutura comes from the Latin noun built in the same way on the simple verb.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Cantigas de Santa Maria a man's arm is healed and joined to his body assi que non era de costura “so that there was no seam”, and the Crónica Troiana describes a fur mantle all in one piece, sen nẽgũa costura “without any seam”.^[10] Cunha dates both costura and custura to the 13th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Morais in 1789 lists the seam of a cloak, the stitches of a wound, linen waiting to be sewn, the seam between the planks of a ship and, figuratively, hard work.^[11] Folqman had already given costura da náo for the joint of a ship's planks in 1755.^[12] Vieira adds the scar left by a wound and quotes Jorge Ferreira de Vasconcelos on women's sewing as their domestic task.^[13]

Modern technical senses extend it to bookbinding, metalwork and building.^[3][14] In Brazil it names the weaving of a car in and out of traffic, and the patient arranging of a political deal.^[3][14] Alta costura translates the French haute couture.^[3][15]

Timeline

• 13th century – costura and custura; the Cantigas de Santa Maria use costura for a seam.^[2][10]
• c. 1450 – costura in the Livro das tres vertudes (manuscript after 1450).^[16]
• 1611 – Barbosa glosses costura with Latin sartura.^[17]
• 1672 – the spelling custura in a private letter.^[18]
• 1755 – Folqman records costura da náo.^[12]
• 1789 – Morais lists the seam, the stitched wound and the work to be sewn.^[11]
• 1813 – first record of costureira “seamstress”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. sewing: the act or process of joining pieces with needle and thread.^[3][14][1]
2. A seam: the line of stitches that joins two pieces: A costura da manga abriu-se.^[3][19]
3. The art, trade or profession of sewing, especially dressmaking and tailoring: aulas de costura.^[3][14][15]
4. A piece of sewing, finished or waiting to be done.^[3][14]
5. (surgery) The stitching of a wound, a suture (sutura);^[3][14] (figurative) a deep scar.^[3][14]
6. (nautical, construction) The joint between planks of a hull or between metal sheets.^[3][14][20]
7. (bookbinding) The sewing together of the gatherings of a book.^[3][14]
8. (Brazil) Zigzagging through traffic in a car.^[3][19]
9. (Brazil) The patient arranging of a political agreement.^[14]

Word family

• costurar
• costureira
• costureiro
• descosturar

Related words

• coser
• sutura
• Galician costura

Usage notes

Assentar as costuras a alguém “to press someone's seams” means to give them a beating.^[19][15][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. costura
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. costura
4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. costura
5. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2523
6. ^ 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. costura
7. ^ Estraviz, Isaac Alonso, Dicionário Estraviz, https://estraviz.org, p. s.v. costura
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. couture
9. ^ 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. costura
10. ^ 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. costura
11. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 341
12. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. costura
13. ^ 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, 589
14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. costura
15. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. costura
16. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. costura
17. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. costura
18. ^ CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. costura
19. ^ a b c 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. costura
20. ^ 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. costura