dedo

Forms

dedo m (plural dedos)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin digitus (“finger, toe”), written Old Galician-Portuguese dedo in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] The learned dígito is its doublet, taken later from the same Latin word.^[2][1] Nascentes posits a Vulgar Latin form *ditu.^[4]

The same Latin word is Galician dedo, Spanish dedo, Catalan dit, French doigt, Italian dito and Romanian deget.^[5][1][6]

The Latin word is traditionally derived from PIE *deyǵ- (“to show, point out”), a variant of the root of dīcō (“to say”) and of the English word toe, the fingers being “pointers”.^[1] De Vaan finds the connection with the Latin verb attractive for the meaning but doubts it, because the change of /k/ to /ɡ/ it needs has no parallel in Latin and no PIE root of the form *d(e)ig- is securely attested.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria tell of a cleric who put a ring eno dedo da omagen de Santa Maria “on the finger of the image of Holy Mary”, and speak of dos pees os dedos “the toes”.^[8] The Crónica Troiana has both o dedo da mão “the finger” and os dedos dos pees “the toes”, and uses the word for a bird's claws.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa (1611) has dedinho “little finger” and dedo pollegar “thumb”.^[9] Bluteau (1712–1728) adds a small measure, the breadth of a finger,^[10] and Folqman (1755) gives the names of the fingers: meminho, annular, do meio, mostrador and pollegar.^[11] Morais (1789) records o dedo de Deus “God's power, providence”, dedo de mestre “a master's hand”, and an astronomical unit, the twelfth part of the disc of the Sun or the Moon.^[12]

The measure of a finger's breadth led to the sense “a very small amount”, and the master's hand to “knack, aptitude”.^[2][13] As an old Portuguese unit of length it was about 1.8 cm.^[1][13]

The word lives on in the creoles: dedu in Kabuverdianu and Kristang, dede in Papiamentu;^[1] Nheengatu borrowed it as dedu.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records.^[2][3]
• c. 1430 – dedo in the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437).^[14]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary heads the word Dedo.^[15]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists dedinho and dedo pollegar.^[9]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau records the measure of a finger's breadth.^[10]
• 1755 – Folqman lists the names of the five fingers.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais records o dedo de Deus and dedo de mestre.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A finger or toe, each of the jointed end parts of the hands and feet.^[2][16][1]
2. (zoology) Each of the end parts of the limbs of land vertebrates; a digit.^[2][17]
3. The finger of a glove.^[2][16]
4. A finger's breadth as a measure: Ponha um dedo de azeite na panela.^[2][18][1]
5. A very small amount: Tem um dedo de razão.^[2][13][1]
6. (figurative) A natural knack or aptitude: ter dedo para.^[2][18]
7. (figurative) The mark of someone's hand: the skill of a master, or the power of whoever is in charge.^[2][13]
8. (historical) An old unit of length, about 1.8 cm.^[1][13]
9. (old astronomy) The twelfth part of the apparent diameter of the Sun or the Moon.^[2][12]

Word family

• dedada
• dedal
• dedão
• dedar
• dedinho
• dedo-duro

Related words

• digital
• digitar
• dígito
• Latin digitus
• Galician dedo

Usage notes

The fingers are polegar, indicador, médio, anular and mínimo (or mindinho); Houaiss notes that dedo auricular “ear finger” for the little finger comes from its use to clean the ear.^[2][19][1] Dedo de Deus is divine providence.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. dedo
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. dedo
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. dedo
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2638
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. digitus
7. ^ 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 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. dedo
9. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. dedo
10. ^ 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. dedo
11. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. dedo
12. ^ a b c 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, 366
13. ^ a b c d e Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. dedo
14. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. dedo
15. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. dedo
16. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. dedo
17. ^ 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. dedo
18. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2714
19. ^ 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. dedo