escudeiro

Forms

escudeiro m (plural escudeiros, feminine escudeira, feminine plural escudeiras)^[1] Medieval texts also write escudeyro and scudeiro.^[2][1]

Etymology

Houaiss calls its origin disputed.^[3] Nascentes, Aurélio and the DLP consider it inherited from Late Latin scūtārius (“guardsman armed with a shield”), the singular of the name of the soldiers of the emperors' guard, and Wiktionary also traces it, through Old Galician-Portuguese escudeiro, to the Latin word.^[4][5][6][1] Machado prefers a derivation in Portuguese from escudo with the suffix -eiro, because the Latin noun also meant “maker of shields”, and Vieira and Porto Editora give the same analysis.^[3][7][8] The REW instead has the Portuguese, Spanish, Catalan and Italian words borrowed from Old Occitan escudier.^[9] Houaiss notes that historical evidence suggests the later sense, a youth aspiring to knighthood and the first title of nobility, arose in France.^[3]

The same word is Spanish escudero, Catalan escuder, Italian scudiero and French écuyer.^[9] The Spanish word is recorded from 1011.^[10] Italian has scudiere from 1299, and Medieval Latin scuderius is found in Venice.^[3]

The Latin noun is formed from Latin scūtum (“shield”) with the suffix -ārius.^[1] De Vaan derives the noun for the shield from Proto-Italic *skoito-, from Proto-Indo-European *skoi-to- (“piece of wood, sheath, shield”), with cognates in Old Irish scíath and Welsh ysgwyd.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria have O alcaide do castelo era un pobr'escudeiro “the governor of the castle was a poor squire” and escudeyros e peões, cavaleyros outro tal “squires and foot soldiers, and knights likewise”.^[2] In a cantiga d'escarnho of Alfonso X the doorkeepers throw someone out vilanamente d' antre os escudeiros “basely, from among the squires”.^[2] Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 13th century.^[3][12]

Semantic evolution

In the Miragres de Santiago the escudeiro is a squire, page or servant, and in the notarial books of Noia (14th–16th centuries) the word often names the rank of a witness or of a seller of estates.^[2] Cardoso (1569) renders it with Latin scutifer and assecla, and Pereira (1697) as one who makes shields.^[13][14] Bluteau describes it as the first title of the old Portuguese nobility, held by those without jurisdictions or lands.^[15] Folqman (1755) records the escudeiro who walked before a lady.^[16] Morais (1813) distinguishes the page who carried the knight's shield and the man who fought on foot with sword and shield, as opposed to the knight on horseback.^[17]

From the attendant of a knight the word passed to a senior servant who goes about with his masters, and figuratively to anyone who accompanies and protects another.^[3][5] Hunters use it for the young boar that is the first to leave the cover.^[18] In Portuguese dialects it can mean “toady, flatterer”.^[19]

Timeline

• 13th century – the Cantigas de Santa Maria and the cantigas d'escarnho.^[2][3][12]
• c. 1430 – the Horto do Esposo (copied 1391–1450).^[20]
• 1537 – escudeyros in a private letter.^[21]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses it with Latin scutifer.^[13]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau calls it the first title of the old nobility.^[15]
• 1813 – Morais records the squire who fought on foot.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. (historical) A squire: in the Middle Ages, a page or servant who carried a knight's shield and attended him at war.^[3][1][5]
2. (historical) A soldier armed with lance and shield in the guard of the emperors.^[3][22]
3. (historical) A title of the lowest rank of the nobility.^[3][6]
4. A senior servant who attends closely on his masters; a personal servant.^[3][5]
5. (figurative) Someone who accompanies and protects another.^[3]
6. (hunting) A young boar that is the first to leave the cover.^[18]

Related words

• escudo
• Latin scutum
• Spanish escudero
• Galician escudeiro

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. escudeiro
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. escudeiro
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. escudeiro
5. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. escudeiro
6. ^ a b 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. escudeiro
7. ^ 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, 281
8. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 3814
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7759
10. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 714
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. scūtum
12. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. escudeiro
13. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. escudeiro
14. ^ Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. escudeiro
15. ^ 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. escudeiro
16. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. escudeiro
17. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 744
18. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. escudeiro
19. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. escudeiro
20. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. escudeiro
21. ^ CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. escudeiro
22. ^ 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. escudeiro