faisão

Forms

faisão m (plural faisões or faisães)^[1] Fifteenth-century texts write the plural faisaães, faysães and feysães.^[2] The feminine is faisoa, on the pattern of leão / leoa;^[3] Aurélio also gives faisã.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish faisán, which itself came from Old Occitan faisan.^[5][4] Houaiss names the source as Provençal or Old Catalan faisan and thinks the word probably reached Portuguese through Spanish, while Nascentes derives it straight from the Old Provençal form.^[2][6] Nascentes and Corominas both see it as a word taken from the old Provençal bestiaries.^[6][7]

The Occitan word continues Latin phāsiānus, from Ancient Greek φασιανός (phasianós), literally “(the bird) of the Phasis”, a river of Colchis that flows into the Black Sea, from where these birds were brought.^[2][7][8] The same Latin word is Galician faisán, Catalan faisà, French faisan and Italian fagiano.^[9][1]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept the sense of its Greek and Latin source, the name of a long-tailed game bird.^[2][10] Houaiss notes that the birds, native to Asia, were introduced into many countries of Europe and North America for hunting, and Aurélio and the DLP add the sense of the bird's meat as a dish.^[2][4][11] The dictionaries allow two plurals, faisões and faisães.^[4][12]

Timeline

• 15th century – first records, with the plurals faisaães, faysães and feysães.^[2]
• 16th century – Cunha's date for the word.^[5]
• 1899 – Figueiredo defines it as a gallinaceous bird remarkable for its fine plumage and derives it from Latin.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. pheasant, any of several gallinaceous birds of the family Phasianidae, especially of the genus Phasianus, whose males have bright plumage and a very long tail.^[2][1]
2. (cooking) A dish made of pheasant; the bird's meat as food.^[4][11]

Related words

• Latin phāsiānus
• Spanish faisán

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. faisão
3. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. faisoa
4. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. faisão
5. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. faisão
6. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. faisão
7. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 835
8. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 4149
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6465
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. faisan
11. ^ 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. faisão
12. ^ 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. faisão
13. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 595