cruz

Forms

cruz f (plural cruzes)^[1] Houaiss records crux in the 14th century and crruz in the 15th.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin crux (“cross, gallows; torment”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cruz in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] It is a semi-learned word: in a popular development the short /u/ of the Latin would have become /o/, as it did in most Romance languages, but the language of the Church kept the /u/ in Portuguese and Spanish.^[2][4][5][6]

The same Latin word is Spanish cruz and Galician cruz, and with the popular vowel Italian croce, French croix, Catalan creu, Occitan crotz and Romanian cruce.^[1][4][6]

The origin of the Latin noun is unclear.^[1][7] Pokorny connected it with Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, to bend”), an explanation that Wiktionary calls phonetically and semantically weak.^[1] De Vaan compares Celtic and Germanic words for “heap, hill” and “back”, such as hryggr (“backbone”), but finds the root shape un-Indo-European and allows that it may be a loanword.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first vernacular record in Lorenzo's chronology is the testament of King Afonso II of 1214, which names o moesteiro de santa Cruz and its prior.^[8] The Cantigas de Santa Maria speak of Jesu-Cristo, estand'ena cruz “Jesus Christ, standing on the cross”, and of people lying en cruz, with arms spread, before an altar.^[8] The cantigas d'amigo swear by Deus de cruz, the crucified God.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa (1611) records fazer o sinal da cruz “to make the sign of the cross”.^[10] Figueiredo (1899) lists the sense “Christianity”, the figurative “torment, affliction” and any sign made of two crossing strokes.^[11] The plural cruzes means “the hips, the lower back” in popular speech.^[12][13][1] Houaiss adds technical senses: an order's decoration, a cross-shaped brace in building and the dagger sign † in printing.^[2] The word passed into the creoles as krus in Kabuverdianu and krus in Papiamentu, and into several languages of South Asia.^[1]

Timeline

• 1214 – santa Cruz in the testament of Afonso II.^[8]
• 13th century – the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[8][3]
• 14th century – the spelling crux; 15th century crruz.^[2]
• c. 1400 – a fragment of a Flos Sanctorum (copied 1380–1425).^[14]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders it with Latin crux.^[15]
• 1611 – Barbosa records fazer o sinal da cruz.^[10]
• 1899 – Figueiredo lists the figurative “affliction” and the plural “hips”.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (history) A cross, an instrument of torture and execution of two crossed beams on which the condemned were nailed or tied.^[2][16][1]
2. The cross on which Jesus was crucified, and the symbol of Christianity; often capitalised.^[2][16][1]
3. A representation of that cross: a pendant, a crucifix, a cross on a building or a grave.^[2][17]
4. (figurative) A heavy burden; suffering, affliction: Cada um carrega a sua cruz.^[2][18]
5. The sign of the cross made with the hand.^[2]
6. A figure of two lines crossing at right angles.^[2][17][1]
7. A cross-shaped decoration of an order or a military honour.^[2]
8. (printing) The dagger sign †, marking a date of death.^[2][1]
9. (in the plural, informal) The hips, the lower back.^[13][1]

Word family

• cruzar
• cruzeiro
• cruzeta
• encruzar
• encruzilhada
• cruzado

Related words

• crucial
• cruciar
• crucificar
• crucifixo
• cruciforme
• Latin crux
• Spanish cruz

Usage notes

Cruzes! is an exclamation that wards off something unwelcome.^[16] With a capital, Cruz is also the constellation of the Southern Cross, the Cruzeiro do Sul.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. cruz
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. cruz
4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. cruz
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 145
6. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 253
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
8. ^ a b c d e 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. cruz
9. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. cruz
10. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cruz
11. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. cruz
12. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. cruz
13. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2607
14. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. cruz
15. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cruz
16. ^ a b c d 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. cruz
17. ^ 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. cruz
18. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. cruz