estanque

Forms

estanque m (plural estanques)^[1]

Etymology

It is a back-formation from Portuguese estancar (“to stanch, stop the flow of”).^{[2][3][1][4][5]} The noun Spanish estanque (“pond”) is formed the same way.^[6]

The verb is of uncertain origin.^[3][1] Houaiss thinks it probably pre-Roman, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *tankó (“to fix”) through Vulgar Latin *extancō, and rejects a derivation from Latin stāgnō (“to form a pool”) on phonetic grounds; it has counterparts all over Romance, such as Spanish estancar, Catalan estancar, Occitan estancar and French étancher.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the adjective “watertight” to the 15th century, from Cunha's slips of medieval Portuguese, where it is spelt stãgue.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century the noun had come to mean a trading monopoly: Morais quotes estanque do cravo, the monopoly of cloves, from the Peregrinação.^[8] Pereira glosses it monopolium.^[9] Bluteau explains the estanque of tobacco, cards and sublimate as the house where the contractors who had bought the right from the king sold those goods, and suggests that the word is a metaphor from a tank that holds back the water.^[10] Folqman (1755) has both the noun and the adjective, as in vaso estanque “watertight vessel”.^[11] Morais in 1813 also gives a pool of still water and the seamen's sense, the work of stopping the water a ship lets in.^[8]

Today the adjective is the common word, especially in compartimento estanque, a watertight compartment, and figuratively “closed, isolated”.^[2][12][13] In Portugal the noun is also a shop where tobacco is sold.^[12][14][4]

Timeline

• 1400s – first record, spelt stãgue.^[2][3]
• 1642 – a private letter has estanque.^[15]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses it monopolium.^[9]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau describes the estanque of tobacco.^[10]
• 1755 – Folqman records the adjective, vaso estanque.^[11]
• 1813 – Morais adds “pool of still water” and the work of stanching a ship.^[8]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira enters it first as an adjective, “well sealed”.^[16]

Meanings

Adjective

1. watertight: sealed so that no liquid can get in or out: um depósito estanque.^[2][12][4]
2. Proof against any agent; hermetic (hermético).^[2][17]
3. Not flowing; stagnant (estagnado).^[2][12][4]
4. Drained, dry: um poço estanque.^[2][12]
5. (figurative) Closed off, without connections; isolated.^[13]

Noun

1. The act of stanching; estancamento.^[2][12][18]
2. (nautical) The work of pumping a ship dry and stopping the leaks that let the water in.^[2][4][17]
3. A monopoly, an exclusive right to buy and sell a product; the house where such goods are sold; estanco.^[2][12][18]
4. (Portugal) A tobacco shop (tabacaria).^[12][14][4]
5. (obsolete) A stop, an end.^[12][13]

Word family

• estanqueidade

Related words

• estancar
• estanco
• Spanish estanque

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. estanque
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. estancar
4. ^ a b c d e f 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. estanque
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. estanque
6. ^ 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. estanque
7. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. estanc-
8. ^ a b c Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 772
9. ^ a b Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. estanque
10. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. estanque
11. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. estanque
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. estanque
13. ^ a b c 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. estanque
14. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. estanque
15. ^ 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. estanque
16. ^ 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, 395
17. ^ 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. estanque
18. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 3949