espada

Forms

espada f (plural espadas)^[1] Houaiss records the form spada for 954 and espada from the 13th century.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin spatha (“broad flat blade; broadsword”), written Old Galician-Portuguese espada in the oldest texts, with a vowel put before the initial s-.^[2][1][3] The Latin word, which also named a weaver's batten, a spatula and a palm frond, is from Ancient Greek σπάθη (spáthē), any broad flat blade of wood or metal: the weaver's batten, a surgeon's spatula, the blade of an oar, a broad-ended sword, the shoulder blade and the stalk of a palm leaf.^[2][4][5] Nascentes notes that it displaced the older Latin words for the sword, ēnsis and gladius.^[3] Houaiss sets beside it the learned doublet espata.^[2]

The same Latin word is Galician espada, Spanish espada, Catalan espasa, French épée and Italian spada, and it also gave Romanian spată and spate (“back”).^[6][7][1] Wiktionary tentatively traces the Greek word to Proto-Indo-European *sph₂-dʰ- and compares Proto-Germanic *spadô.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is in the 13th-century glossaries of the Cancioneiro da Ajuda and the Cantigas de Santa Maria, where a man is wounded de spad’ou de lança “by sword or by lance” and knights sas espadas sacaron “drew their swords”.^[8] The Crónica Troiana tells how a knight sacou sua espada “drew his sword” and cut a Trojan in two.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Medieval prose already had the formula of destruction a fogo e a espada “by fire and sword” and mortos a espada “put to the sword” in the Crónica Geral.^[8] A cantiga uses the word figuratively for the pain of love.^[9] Barbosa's dictionary of 1611 has the two-handed sword and the blunt practice sword of fencers, espada preta, which Morais describes again in 1813 with espada de dor “sword of sorrow” piercing the heart.^[10][11]

From the sword the word passed to the suit of cards: Nascentes explains that the old Spanish-style pack showed crossed swords, while the modern French pack shows a lance head.^[3] Figueiredo's dictionary of 1899 has the suit, fishes named after the blade, and the masculine noun for the bullfighter who kills the bull.^[12] In Brazil espada is short for peixe-espada and names several long fishes, and in Bahia a kind of firework.^[2][13][14] In Portugal it is also a person expert in some field.^[15][16]

The word travelled east with the Portuguese: Wiktionary traces इस्पात (ispāt) in Hindi and スベタ (subeta) in Japanese to it.^[1]

Timeline

• 954 – Houaiss's first date, for the form spada, taken from Machado.^[2]
• 13th century – espada in the Cancioneiro da Ajuda and the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[8][2]
• 1416 – first record in the CTA corpus, in the Vida do Cativo Monge Confesso.^[17]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses Espada with Latin ensis and gladius.^[18]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists the two-handed sword and the fencers' espada preta.^[10]
• 1789 – Morais defines the weapon by its blade, point, edges and guard.^[19]
• 1899 – Figueiredo records the card suit and the bullfighter.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sword: a weapon with a long, usually pointed blade with one or two edges and a hilt: Desembainhou a espada.^[2][1][13]
2. (fencing) épée.^[1]
3. (figurative) Military power; the military career.^[2][20]
4. (agriculture) A variety of mango (manga).^[2][21]
5. (ichthyology) Short for peixe-espada, the cutlassfish; in Brazil also other long, thin fishes.^[2][13][22]
6. (in the plural) spades, one of the four suits of playing cards.^[2][1]
7. (masculine, bullfighting) The bullfighter whose part is to kill the bull with the sword; the matador.^[2][13]
8. (masculine and feminine, Portugal) A person expert in some field;^[15][2] boa espada, a skilled swordsman.^[15][2]
9. (masculine, Portugal, slang) A large, showy car.^[15][13]

Word family

• peixe-espada
• espadada
• espadeirada
• espadeiro
• espadim

Related words

• espadachim
• espadarte
• espadeirão
• espadeirar
• espadilha
• espata
• Latin spatha
• Galician espada

Usage notes

Entre a espada e a parede “between the sword and the wall” means trapped between two dangers;^[2] Houaiss equates it with entre a cruz e a caldeirinha.^[2] Espada de Dâmocles is the sword of Damocles, a constant threat.^[13][22]

Houaiss's ichthyological espada (the cutlassfish, Trichiurus lepturus) is not a separate word but a shortening of peixe-espada, the fish named after the blade.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. espada
3. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. espada
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. spatha
5. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. σπάθη
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. spatha
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. spatha
8. ^ a b c d 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. espada
9. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. espada
10. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. espada
11. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 753
12. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. espada
13. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. espada
14. ^ Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. espada
15. ^ 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. espada
16. ^ 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. espada
17. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. espada
18. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. espada
19. ^ 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, 44
20. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 3858
21. ^ 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. espada
22. ^ a b 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. espada