enguia

Forms

enguia f (plural enguias)^[1] The old form anguia is recorded from the 14th century and is still listed as a variant.^[2] Silva Bastos places it in the Minho.^[3][2] Wiktionary also gives enguila.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *anguīla, a form of Latin anguīlla (“eel”) with a single /l/, which accounts for the loss of the /l/ between vowels.^[4][5][1] The oldest form is Old Galician-Portuguese anguia, closer to the Latin.^[4][6] Vieira compares the loss of the /l/ in Latin vēlum > véu.^[7]

The same Latin word is Galician anguía, Spanish anguila, Catalan anguila, French anguille and Italian anguilla.^[4][8][1] Corominas notes that the old regular form there was Old Spanish anguilla, and that the modern one is probably from Catalan.^[9]

The Latin word is a diminutive of anguis (“snake”) for Houaiss and the OLD.^[4][10] Wiktionary instead derives it from Proto-Indo-European *h₂engʷʰ- (“water-worm, eel”), beside Ancient Greek ἔγχελυς (énkhelus, “eel”), with only the influence of the word for “snake”.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria (no. 368) compare a snake to hũa anguia grossa “a fat eel”, and a satirical cantiga of Afonso X mocks crows made to look like cranes and anguias like toads.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The modern spelling enguia heads the entry already in Cardoso (1569), while Barbosa (1611) has anguía.^[11][12] Bluteau (1712) gives both, anguîa, ou enguia, and Morais (1813) refers anguia to enguia, “as we say today”.^[13][14] Vieira (1871) still calls anguia the form closer to the etymology, though less used.^[7]

Figurative uses compare a person to the fish: in Portugal a very thin person, or one who slips away easily.^[4][15] In Alagoas the word once named a convict sentenced to forced labour.^[4]

Timeline

• 14th century – anguia.^[3]
• 1569 – Cardoso lists Enguia.^[11]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists Anguía.^[12]
• 1712 – Bluteau gives anguîa, ou enguia.^[13]
• 1789 – Morais heads the word enguia.^[16]
• 1871 – Vieira calls anguia closer to the Latin but less used.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. eel, the common name of several snake-shaped fishes of fresh and salt water.^[4][17]
2. The European eel, Anguilla anguilla, which lives in rivers and spawns in the sea; also called eiró.^[4][15][18]
3. (Brazil) Other eel-like fishes, such as the conger (congro).^[4][17]
4. (Portugal, figurative) A very thin person; someone who slips away easily.^[4][15]
5. (Alagoas, obsolete) A convict sentenced to forced labour.^[4]

Related words

• Latin anguilla
• Galician anguía
• Spanish anguila

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. anguia
3. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. anguia
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. enguia
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. enguia
6. ^ 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. anguia
7. ^ a b c Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 1, 420
8. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. s.v. enguia
9. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 271
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. anguilla
11. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. enguia
12. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. anguia
13. ^ 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. anguia
14. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 134
15. ^ a b c 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. enguia
16. ^ 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, 502
17. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. enguia
18. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. enguia