esmerilhão

Forms

esmerilhão m (plural esmerilhões)^[1] The 15th-century plural is spelt esmirilhões in Houaiss and esmerilhães in Cunha.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French esmerillon (“merlin”), modern French émerillon.^[2][3][4][5] Aurélio and Nascentes give the modern French form as the source.^[6][7] The French word is first recorded around 1165 as the name of the bird, and is a diminutive in -on of esmeril.^[2][8] This goes back to Frankish *smiril, a name of the same bird.^[2][8][1] Corominas compares German Schmerl, Old High German smiril and Old Norse smyrill, and thinks that Spanish esmerejón, recorded as esmerilón in the 13th century, is probably the Old French word adapted to Spanish.^[9]

The name of the gun comes from that of the bird, in the way that falcão also named a piece of artillery.^[7] Houaiss notes that French gave the name to a light gun in the 16th century.^[2][8] Vieira (1871) and Figueiredo (1899) derived the bird's name from Latin merula (“blackbird”) with an added s-, and Figueiredo derived the name of the gun from esmeril instead.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 15th century, from the slips of Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese, and give it both the sense “long gun of great range” and the bird.^[2][3] Cardoso (1569) and Barbosa (1611) gloss the bird with Latin haliaeetus, a bird of prey.^[12][13]

Semantic evolution

Morais (1789) gives three senses: a bird of prey used in falconry, a long heavily loaded gun, and the augmentative of esmeril, a piece of artillery.^[14][15] The old Caldas Aulete quotes Diogo Fernandes Ferreira's Arte da Caça for the falcons, hawks and esmerilhões that gather round owls, and describes the bird as the smallest bird of prey, used in falconry.^[16] The modern dictionaries still list the gun, but as an old weapon.^[2][17] In Brazil the merlin is found only on the coast of Bahia and in Amazonas.^[2][18]

Timeline

• c. 1165 – Old French esmerillon, the bird.^[2]
• 1400s – first Portuguese record, in the plural.^[2][3]
• 1569 – Cardoso's Portuguese–Latin dictionary lists esmerilhão.^[12]
• 1789 – Morais gives the bird, the gun and the piece of artillery.^[14]
• 1899 – Figueiredo splits the bird and the gun into two words.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. The merlin (Falco columbarius), a small falcon of Europe, Asia and North America, used in falconry.^[2][4][1]
2. (historical) A long gun (espingarda) of great range.^[2][6]
3. (historical) A piece of artillery larger than the esmeril.^[17][16]

Related words

• esmeril
• French émerillon
• Spanish esmerejón

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. esmerilhão
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. esmerilhão
4. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 3849
5. ^ 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. esmerilhão
6. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. esmerilhão
7. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. esmerilhão
8. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. émerillon
9. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 729
10. ^ 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, 307
11. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. esmerilhão
12. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. esmerilhão
13. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. esmerilhão
14. ^ a b 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, 43
15. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 751
16. ^ a b 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. esmerilhão
17. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. esmerilhão
18. ^ Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. esmerilhão