cunha

Forms

cunha f (plural cunhas)^[1] The oldest texts have cuna, cunha and coinha.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

Houaiss calls the origin disputed.^[4] The usual view is that it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *cunea, a feminine form of cuneus (“wedge”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cuna in the oldest texts.^[1] Machado, the DLP, the Porto Editora dictionary and Wiktionary take this view.^[4][5][6][1] Others take the word as the feminine of cunho “die, stamp”, as the Michaelis does, although Houaiss points out that the masculine is recorded only from the 15th century and the feminine from the 14th; in Spanish, too, Spanish cuño is recorded before Spanish cuña.^[4][7][8] Nascentes derives it from the Latin word through an old form Old Galician-Portuguese conho, which Houaiss notes is only listed by Viterbo, not found in a text.^[9][4] The Latin short /u/ would give /o/.^[8] Nascentes and the DCECH explain the /u/ by the influence of the palatal /ɲ/, as in punho and unha.^[9][8]

The same Latin word is Galician cuña, Catalan cuny, French coin, Italian cogno (Old Italian) and Romanian cui (“nail”).^[10][1]

The origin of the Latin word is unclear.^[11] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *h₂ḱū (“sting”), comparing culex (“gnat”).^[1] De Vaan finds this comparison too uncertain, since the root would give a Latin form with a long vowel, and mentions the proposal that the word renders, through Etruscan, the adjective Ancient Greek γώνιος (gṓnios, “angular”).^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Miragres de Santiago tell of a man who fillou hũa cuna de ferro “took an iron wedge” and put it under the bases (meteoa por so as basas); a document of 1364 has hũa cunha e dous scouparos “a wedge and two chisels”.^[2] Both have the sense of a splitting or levering tool.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa's dictionary of 1611 already has fender com cunhas “to split with wedges”.^[12] Bluteau in 1712 adds two transferred senses: certain feathers of the falcon, and cunha no verso, a filler word in a line of verse.^[13] Military, nautical and artillery uses followed: a wedge-shaped formation of troops, the wedge that holds a topmast, the cunha de mira that raised the breech of a gun.^[14][4] Figueiredo in 1899 records the figurative sense “influence, a person who intercedes for someone”, and Silva Bastos in 1912 calls it familiar.^[15][16] In Portugal meter uma cunha is to pull strings for someone, and cunha is the word for such a recommendation.^[4][6] Aurélio refers the figurative sense to the Brazilian pistolão.^[17]

Timeline

• 1364 – hũa cunha e dous scouparos in a document.^[2][4]
• 14th century – the spellings cuna and coinha.^[3]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses cunha with Latin cuneus.^[18]
• 1611 – Barbosa has fender com cunhas.^[12]
• 1712 – Bluteau records the falcon's feathers and cunha no verso.^[13]
• 1871 – Vieira adds the military and nautical senses.^[14]
• 1899 – Figueiredo records the sense “influence, a person who intercedes”.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wedge of metal or hard wood, driven into a crack to split wood or stone, or used to fix, level or adjust something: Rachou o tronco com duas cunhas.^{[4][17][5][1]}
2. A wedge-shaped piece placed under or beside something to hold it still; a chock, calço.^[5][19][6]
3. (carpentry) The piece that holds the blade of a plane in place.^[4][20]
4. (military) A wedge-shaped formation of troops; a force driven into enemy territory.^[4][17]
5. (heraldry) A wedge-shaped charge, found in the arms of the families named Cunha.^[4][5]
6. (versification) A filler word added to complete the metre of a line.^[4][17][19]
7. (geometry) cunha esférica: the part of a sphere bounded by two great semicircles.^[4][17]
8. (meteorology) A wedge-shaped area of high pressure.^[4]
9. (printing) Each of the wooden quoins that held the forme in the chase.^[4][17]
10. (zoology) Each of the outer tail feathers of a bird of prey.^[4][13]
11. A wedge heel of a shoe.^[6]
12. (figurative, chiefly Portugal, informal) A recommendation or request from an influential person; influence, empenho; also the influential person: Entrou no emprego por cunha.^{[4][17][19][6][1]}

Related words

• cunho
• cunhar
• cúneo
• Latin cuneus
• Galician cuña

Usage notes

À cunha means “packed full”: o comboio ia à cunha.^[4][19][6] Meter uma cunha or meter cunha por alguém (Portugal) is to put in a word for someone.^[4][6]

Nascentes thought the surname Cunha has a separate source: its old forms Cuina and Cuinha and the 10th-century culina point to Latin culina (“kitchen”).^[21]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. cuna
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. cunha
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. cunha
5. ^ 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. cunha
6. ^ a b c d e f g Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2631
7. ^ 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. cunha
8. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 295
9. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. cunha
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2396
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cunha
13. ^ 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. cunha
14. ^ a b 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, 669
15. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. cunha
16. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. cunha
17. ^ a b c d e f g Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. cunha
18. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cunha
19. ^ a b c d Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. cunha
20. ^ 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. cunha
21. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1952), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 2: Nomes próprios, Rio de Janeiro, p. 118