estrela

Forms

estrela f (plural estrelas)^[1] The medieval texts write estrela, strela and estrella.^[2][3] The spelling estrella appears in a letter of 1600, and Cunha records spellings with -ll- for the derivatives into the 19th century.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin stēlla (“star”), written Old Galician-Portuguese estrela and Old Galician-Portuguese strela in the 13th-century texts.^[2][5][1]

The same Latin word is Galician estrela, Spanish estrella, Catalan estel, Occitan estela, French étoile, Italian stella and Romanian stea.^[6][1]

The /r/ of the Portuguese and Spanish words, which the words in Italian and in French do not have, has been explained in two ways.^[7] Meyer-Lübke's REW and García de Diego put it down to a cross with the Latin word for a star, Latin astrum.^[6][8] Nascentes lists the scholars who held this view but doubts it, since astro was not a popular word.^[9] Corominas and Lorenzo treat the /r/ as a purely phonetic change, the anticipation or echo of the other liquid in the word, also found in some dialects of northern Italy.^[7][3] Wiktionary assumes a regional Latin *strēlla behind the Ibero-Romance forms.^[1]

The Latin word goes back to *stērlā, a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr (“star”), which also gave Ancient Greek ἀστήρ (astḗr) and Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌽𐍉 (stairnō).^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria already use the word in both spellings: the star that led the three kings is a strela (aos tres Reis en Ultramar / ouv' a strela mostrada “to the three kings beyond the sea she showed the star”), and the star that guides sailors is a estrela (ben com' aos que van per mar / a estrela guia “as the star guides those who go by sea”).^[3] The sense is the plain astronomical one, “star”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From the beginning the word was also an epithet of the Virgin: the Cantigas call her Strela do Mar “Star of the Sea” and Strela do Dia “Morning Star”.^[3] A cantiga by D. Pedro de Portugal already uses estrela for a person's fate, the supposed influence of the stars on a life, which is still a common sense (ter boa estrela “to be lucky”).^[11][2][12]

By extension the word came to name any figure or object shaped like a star, a white blaze on a horse's forehead, and a star-shaped kite.^[2][1] Like English star, it also names an outstanding person and, in cinema, theatre and television, a leading actress; for a man the usual word is astro.^[2][13] In Rio Grande do Sul the blaze on a horse is called by the same word as in the Plate region, Spanish estrella.^[12]

Timeline

• 13th century – strela and estrela in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[3][2]
• 14th century – estrelas in the Galician Crónica Troiana and the Miragres de Santiago.^[3]
• 1496 – first occurrence in the CTA corpus, in a regimen against the plague.^[14]
• 1569 – Cardoso's Portuguese–Latin dictionary glosses Estrela with Latin stella.^[15]
• 1611 – Barbosa adds estrelinha, estrelada cousa and sete estrelo “the Pleiades”.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. (astronomy) A star, a celestial body that shines with its own light and seems fixed in the sky.^[2][17][1]
2. Any celestial body seen in the night sky.^[2][17][1]
3. (figurative) fate, luck: the influence a star is supposed to have on someone's life.^[2][18][1]
4. A conventional figure with five or more points standing for a star; any object of that shape.^[2][17]
5. (figurative) An outstanding person in some field; a celebrity, especially a leading actress in film, theatre or television.^[2][18][1]
6. (figurative) A person or idea that serves as one's guide.^[2][17]
7. A white blaze on the forehead of a horse or ox.^[2][13][1]
8. (military) A star-shaped rank insignia; a star in the rating of hotels and restaurants.^[2][1]
9. A star-shaped kite.^[2][1]
10. (rare) An asterisk.^[2][13][1]

Word family

• estrelado
• estrelar
• estrelinha
• estrelato
• estrelismo

Related words

• estelar
• Estrela
• estelante
• estelífero
• astro
• Latin stēlla
• Spanish estrella

Usage notes

Two common phrases are ter estrela “to be lucky” and ver estrelas “to see stars”, after a blow to the head.^[12] Estrela is also the name of the Serra da Estrela in Portugal, and a surname.^[19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. estrela
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. estrela
4. ^ 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. estrela
5. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. estrela
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8242
7. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 805
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. stella
9. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 200
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. stēlla
11. ^ 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. estrela
12. ^ a b c Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. estrela
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. estrela
14. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. estrela
15. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. estrela
16. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. estrela
17. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. estrela
18. ^ 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. estrela
19. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1952), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 2: Nomes próprios, Rio de Janeiro, p. 138