esquadrão

Forms

esquadrão m (plural esquadrões)^[1] The 16th century wrote esquadram (1512), esquadrão (1551) and escoadram (1562).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian squadrone, an Italian word recorded before 1470 for a cavalry unit under a captain.^[2][3][4][1] The Italian noun is squadra (“squad”) with the augmentative suffix -one, and that noun is from squadrare (“to square”).^[5][1]

Wiktionary notes that within Portuguese it can be analysed as esquadra with -ão, and Silva Bastos and Figueiredo derived it so.^[1][6][7] Houaiss, however, dates the shorter noun only from 1572, sixty years after the longer one.^[8][2] In the same way, Spanish escuadrón is the augmentative of escuadra.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is from 1512, spelt esquadram; the spelling esquadrão follows in 1551.^[2] Cunha also puts both forms in the 16th century.^[3] The word was first a military term for a body of troops.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

Morais (1813) explains that an esquadrão was formerly a body of infantry and cavalry into which the army was divided, that in his day it was a unit of 120 horse, and that older writers used it for divisions of a fleet; he also quotes a figurative use, males “evils” coming em esquadrão serrado “in close order”.^[10] The old Caldas Aulete calls it the tactical unit of the cavalry, as the battalion is of the infantry, made up of two companies, and records the figurative sense “crowd, swarm”.^[11]

In the 20th century the word was applied to groups of warships smaller than an esquadra and to air force units, and in Brazil to a strong sports team.^[2][12][13] The phrase esquadrão da morte “death squad” names a group of armed men who kill outside the law.^[11]

Timeline

• 1512 – first record, spelt esquadram.^[2]
• 1551 – the spelling esquadrão.^[2]
• 1562 – the spelling escoadram.^[2]
• 1572 – first record of esquadra.^[8]
• 1722 – esquadrão in a private letter.^[14]
• 1813 – Morais describes the esquadrão as a unit of 120 horse.^[10]
• 1873 – esquadrilha is borrowed from Spanish.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. (military) A squadron of cavalry: a subdivision of a regiment, above a platoon, commanded by a captain.^[2][12][16]
2. (navy) A group of warships, usually of the same type and class, smaller than an esquadra.^[2][12]
3. (aviation) A basic air force unit of several flights of aircraft of the same type.^[12][13]
4. (sports) A team, especially a strong one.^[2][13]
5. (figurative) A crowd, band or swarm: um esquadrão de fotógrafos.^[17][16][18]

Related words

• esquadra
• esquadrilha
• esquadro
• Italian squadrone
• Spanish escuadrón

Usage notes

Abrir esquadrão is a military phrase for breaking up an enemy squadron and throwing it into disorder.^[2]

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 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. esquadrão
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. esquadrão
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. esquadrão
5. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. squadrone
6. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. esquadrão
7. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 559
8. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. esquadra
9. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. escuadrón
10. ^ a b c Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 765
11. ^ 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. esquadrão
12. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. esquadrão
13. ^ a b c 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. esquadrão
14. ^ 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. esquadrão
15. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. esquadrilha
16. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 3921
17. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. esquadrão
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. esquadrão