escovar

Forms

escovar (first-person singular present escovo, first-person singular preterite escovei, past participle escovado)^[1]

Etymology

Houaiss, Aurélio and DELPo take it as formed from Portuguese escova + -ar, the verb of the noun “brush”.^[2][3][4] Cunha, the DLP, the REW and Wiktionary derive it directly from the Late Latin scōpō (“to sweep”), from scōpae (“broom”).^[5][6][7][1] The noun escova is first recorded in 1522, some twenty years before the verb.^[8][2]

The Latin verb is continued in Spanish escobar and Occitan escobar, Italian scopare and Old French escover, all meaning “to sweep”.^[7][9][1] The REW notes that it displaced Latin verrō (“to sweep”) in much of the Romance area.^[7]

The Latin noun, properly “twigs”, then “broom”, goes back to *skōp-ā-.^[10] De Vaan compares Ancient Greek σκᾶπος (skâpos, “stick”) and σκήπτομαι (skḗptomai, “to support oneself”) and a possible root *sk(e/o)h₂p-, but notes that no verb of that root is attested and that the words may be borrowings.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is a work of Jorge Ferreira de Vasconcelos of about 1543, in the sense “to clean with a brush”.^[2] Bluteau (1712) gives the example escovar o vestido “to brush a garment”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The verb took over the sense of Portuguese escova “brush”, while its Spanish and Italian cognates kept the Latin sense “to sweep”.^[8][7] Morais (1813) and Vieira (1871–1874) define it as cleaning with a brush, and Vieira adds the figurative senses “to empty, drain”, as in escovar a bolsa aos parceiros “to leave one's fellow gamblers without a coin”, and “to thrash, beat”.^[12][13] The REW records the derivative escovadela “reprimand”, and modern dictionaries give the senses “to scold severely” and “to beat”.^[7][2][14] The DLP adds informal uses for a horse throwing its rider and, in slang, for stealing.^[6]

Timeline

• 1522 – first record of the noun escova.^[8]
• c. 1543 – first record of the verb, in Jorge Ferreira de Vasconcelos.^[2]
• 1712 – Bluteau defines it as cleaning with brushes.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais's dictionary lists the verb.^[15]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira records the figurative senses “to empty” and “to beat”.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To brush: to clean, smooth or groom with a brush: escovar o casaco antes da festa.^[2][3][1]
2. (figurative) To scold severely; to reprimand.^[2][3]
3. (figurative) To thrash, beat.^[2][14]
4. (informal, of a horse) To throw the rider to the ground.^[6]
5. (slang) To steal.^[6]
6. (pronominal) To brush one's own clothes.^[14]

Word family

• escovadela
• escovação
• escovador
• escovado

Related words

• escova
• escovilhão
• Latin scōpae
• Spanish escobar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. escovar
3. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. escovar
4. ^ NEHiLP – Núcleo de Apoio à Pesquisa em Etimologia e História da Língua Portuguesa, Universidade de São Paulo, DELPo: Dicionário Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa (online database), p. s.v. escovar
5. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. escova
6. ^ 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. escovar
7. ^ a b c d e Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7735
8. ^ a b c Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. escova
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. scopare
10. ^ 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
11. ^ 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. escovar
12. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 743
13. ^ 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. 3, 271
14. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. escovar
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, 36