crivo

Forms

crivo m (plural crivos)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin cribum (“sieve”), a form of Latin cribrum with the second /r/ lost by dissimilation.^[2][1][3] Houaiss and Cunha give the classical form as the etymon.^[4][5] Corominas notes that the dissimilated form is already found in Latin glosses in manuscripts of the 8th and 10th centuries.^[6] Nascentes points out the voicing of /b/ to /v/ between vowels.^[2]

The same Latin form gave Spanish cribo and Spanish criba, Galician cribo and southern Italian crivo, while French crible and Romanian ciur come from other variants of the Latin noun.^[3][6][1]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Italic *kreiðrom, from Proto-Indo-European *kréydʰrom, built on the root *krey- (“to sieve, separate”) of cernō (“to sift”).^[7][1] Its cognates include Old Irish críathar and Old English hrīdder, both “sieve”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 14th century, from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese, with the sense “sieve” for cleaning grain.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712) describes the farm sieve: a thin wooden hoop over a bottom of raw horse hide or other leather pierced with many holes, used to clean wheat.^[8] Morais (1813) and Vieira (1871) cite the figurative phrase o navio feito um crivo de pelouros, a ship riddled with shot.^[9][10]

Later senses come from the shape: the rose of a watering can, a perforated cooking utensil, a grille or lattice in a door for looking out unseen, and the grate of a sugar-mill furnace in Brazil.^[4][11] Cunha dates the sense “drawn-thread embroidery”, worked on a grid of threads, to 1881.^[5][4] The figurative sense “close scrutiny” gives passar pelo crivo “to be examined thoroughly”.^[4][12] Houaiss records informal senses “cigarette” and “police guard”, and Navarro the sense “cigarette” in Alagoas.^[4][13] Wiktionary labels the cigarette sense dated slang of Rio Grande do Sul.^[1]

Timeline

• 14th century – first record, according to Houaiss and Cunha.^[4][5]
• 1611 – Barbosa renders crivo with the Latin cribrum and lists crivar com crivo “to sift with a sieve”.^[14]
• 1712 – Bluteau describes the leather-bottomed sieve for wheat.^[8]
• 1789 – Morais has the figurative feito um crivo “riddled with holes”.^[15]
• 1881 – first record of the sense “drawn-thread embroidery”.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sieve, a peneira or joeira with a perforated or wire-mesh bottom for separating grain, stones and the like by size.^[4][16][1]
2. A perforated kitchen utensil for straining or shaping dough; a strainer (coador).^[4][11]
3. The rose of a watering can or hose.^[4][17]
4. A perforated plate or lattice set in a door or window for looking out without being seen; the grille of a confessional.^[4][17]
5. Anything full of holes.^[4][16]
6. (mining) In diamond workings, the sieve in which the gravel is washed free of sand.^[4][18]
7. (Brazil) The grate of a sugar-mill furnace, or one of its bars.^[4][19]
8. (embroidery) A drawn-thread embroidery worked on a frame; labirinto.^[4][19]
9. (figurative) Close scrutiny, a test or selection.^[4][12]
10. (printing) A skimmer (escumadeira).^[4]
11. (informal) A cigarette (cigarro); in Rio Grande do Sul, dated slang, one smelling of cloves.^[4][13][1]
12. (informal) A police guard.^[4]
13. (Brazil, music) A small drum played with the hands in the candombe dance.^[4]

Word family

• crivar

Related words

• cribriforme
• Latin cribrum
• Spanish cribo

Usage notes

The crivo de Eratóstenes is the sieve of Eratosthenes, the method of finding the prime numbers.^[4][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. crivo
3. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2324
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. crivo
5. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. crivo
6. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 242
7. ^ a b 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. crībrum
8. ^ 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. crivo
9. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 497
10. ^ 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, 643
11. ^ 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. crivo
12. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2590
13. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. crivo
14. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. crivo
15. ^ 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, 349
16. ^ 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. crivo
17. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. crivo
18. ^ 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. crivo
19. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. crivo