espuma

Forms

espuma f (plural espumas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin spūma (“foam, froth”).^[2][3][1] Nascentes considers it semi-learned, and less popular than its doublet escuma, which Houaiss derives from a Germanic word, Proto-Germanic *skūmaz or Frankish *skūm, crossed with the Latin one.^[4][5][6]

The same Latin word is Spanish espuma, Italian spuma and Romanian spumă.^[7][8] Corominas notes that most other Romance languages adopted the Germanic word instead, as in French écume and Italian schiuma.^[9]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *spoimā and Proto-Indo-European *spoHi-m- (“foam”), with the cognates Old English fām, Old High German feim and Lithuanian spáinė.^[10] English foam belongs to the same family.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Crónica Troiana tells that Venus foy engendrada ẽna espuma do mar “was born in the foam of the sea”, and the Galician General Estoria tells of a foam that rose on the sea.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its Latin sense of foam on water and froth at the mouth.^[2][12] In 19th-century Portugal Vieira treated espuma as a poetic word and sent the reader to escuma; the old Caldas Aulete notes that in Brazil espuma was the usual form except among the uneducated, and Aurélio that it is the form of educated speech there.^[13][14][15] Modern dictionaries add foam rubber and light, aerated products such as mousses and shaving foam.^[2][16]

Timeline

• 14th century – espuma do mar in the Crónica Troiana.^[12][2][3]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira labels espuma a poetic word.^[13]
• 1899 – Figueiredo defines it as frothy saliva, the same as escuma.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. foam, froth, a mass of tiny bubbles on a liquid that is shaken, boiled or fermented, or made with soap: a espuma das ondas.^[2][15][1]
2. Frothy saliva at the mouth, as in a fit or in a rabid animal.^[2][16][1]
3. The white lather that sweat forms on a horse's skin.^[15]
4. A product with the consistency of foam, such as a mousse or a shaving foam.^[16][18]
5. foam rubber, a porous synthetic material used in mattresses and upholstery, also espuma de borracha.^[2][1]

Related words

• espumar
• escuma
• espumante
• Latin spūma
• Spanish espuma

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. espuma
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. espuma
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. espuma
5. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. escuma
6. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. escuma
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8189
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
9. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 753
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. spūma
12. ^ a b c 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. espuma
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, 364
14. ^ 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. espuma
15. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. espuma
16. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 3919
17. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. espuma
18. ^ 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. espuma