espinha

Forms

espinha f (plural espinhas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin spīna (“thorn, backbone”), written Old Galician-Portuguese espinna in the 13th century and Old Galician-Portuguese espinha from the 14th.^[2][3][1] The Latin word meant “thornbush”, “thorn” and “backbone”.^[2] Wiktionary notes that Portuguese gave the sense “thorn” to espinho, keeping this word for the backbone and the bones of fish.^[1]

The same Latin word is Galician espiña, Spanish espina, Catalan espina, French épine and Italian spina.^[4][1]

De Vaan reconstructs *speinā and compares Baltic and Slavic words for “rod” and “back” and Old High German spinala (“hairpin”), and thinks the word may share its base with spīca (“ear of grain”).^[5] Wiktionary takes it back to Proto-Indo-European *spey- (“sharp point”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A cantiga d'escarnho attributed to Alfonso X uses the word figuratively for the sting of scorpions: dentro no coraçon / senti deles a espinha! “within my heart I felt their sting!”.^[6][7] In Old Galician-Portuguese the word still meant “thorn, sting”.^[1]

Semantic evolution

The old sense “thorn” lasted a long time in the dictionaries: Barbosa in 1611 translates espinha with Latin words for thorn, bramble and briar, and Vieira still lists the thorn of plants first.^[8][9] Folqman in 1755 has espinha carnal “pimple”.^[10] Vieira and Figueiredo give the bones of fish, the pimple and the spine, and Figueiredo adds a slang sense “dagger”.^[9][11]

Today the backbone is the first sense, beside the bones of fish, the crest of a mountain range, a pimple, and figurative senses such as “difficulty” and “grudge”.^[2] Cunha dates espinhela to the 14th century and espinhaço “ridge of a hill” to the 15th, and espinhaço “backbone” to 1813.^[3]

Timeline

• 13th century – first record, spelt espinna.^[2][3]
• 14th century – the spelling espinha, and the derivative espinhela.^[2][3]
• 15th century – espinhaço “ridge of a hill”.^[3]
• 1569 – Cardoso translates it with Latin spina.^[12]
• 1611 – Barbosa still gives the sense “thorn, bramble”.^[8]
• 1755 – Folqman has espinha carnal “pimple”.^[10]
• 1813 – espinhaço in the sense “backbone”.^[3]
• 1899 – Figueiredo records the slang sense “dagger”.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy) The backbone, the coluna vertebral: Sentia uma dor na espinha.^[2][13][1]
2. A fishbone, one of the fine pointed bones of a fish: Tira as espinhas antes de servir o peixe.^[2][14][1]
3. The backbone of an animal.^[2]
4. The line of the highest points of a mountain range, a crest.^[2][14]
5. (informal) An obstacle, a difficulty.^[2][13]
6. (informal) Ill will, a grudge.^[2][15]
7. A pimple, a spot of acne.^[2][13][1]
8. A tool used in foundries to open the channel for the molten metal.^[13][15]
9. (informal) A very thin person.^[15]
10. espinha bífida: spina bifida.^[2][13]

Word family

• espinha dorsal
• espinhaço
• espinhal
• espinhela

Related words

• espinal
• espinhado
• espinhar
• espinheiral
• espinheiro
• espinhento
• espinho
• espinhoso
• espiniforme
• Latin spīna
• Galician espiña
• Spanish espina

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. espinha
3. ^ a b c d e f Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. espinha
4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8150
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ 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. espinha
7. ^ 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. espinha
8. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. espinha
9. ^ 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, 351
10. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. espinha
11. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 555
12. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. espinha
13. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. espinha
14. ^ 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. espinha
15. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. espinha