falcão

Forms

falcão m (plural falcões)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote falcon, plural falcões; the spelling falcão is recorded from the 15th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin falco (“falcon”), written Old Galician-Portuguese falcon in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] Nascentes suggests that it may have come through Old Occitan falcon, since the Latin ⟨al⟩ is kept.^[5]

The same Latin word is Galician falcón, Spanish halcón, Catalan falcó, French faucon and Italian falcone.^[6][1]

The origin of the Latin word, first recorded about 300, is disputed.^[6][7] Corominas thinks it is the same as the Latin adjective falco used of people with crooked toes, a derivative of falx (“sickle”), the bird being named for its curved talons.^[7][8] Wiktionary prefers a Germanic origin, given the word's early and wide use there: Proto-Germanic *falkô, perhaps from the root of *pelH- (“pale, grey”);^[1][6] Meyer-Lübke found a Latin origin likely but a Germanic one possible.^[1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first date, 926, is the personal name Falcon in a Latin charter.^[2] The common noun appears in the 13th century: the Cantigas de Santa Maria tell of a man who went hunting con seus falcões “with his falcons”.^[3][9]

Semantic evolution

Medieval texts name the bird mostly in hunting, and the Crónica Troiana lists falcões et gaujães et açores, falcons, hawks and goshawks.^[9] The derivatives falcoaria “falconry” (13th century) and falcoeiro “falconer” (14th century) are almost as old as the word.^[3] By comparison with the bird the name passed to a long, small-calibre gun, which Morais (1789) describes.^[2][5][10] In Brazil the word also covers the birds of prey commonly called gavião.^[4] Bluteau (1712–1728) derived the name from Latin falcatus “curved” or falx “sickle”, for the bird's circling flight or its talons.^[11]

Timeline

• 926 – Falcon as a personal name in a Latin charter.^[2]
• 1200s – falcões in the Cantigas de Santa Maria;^[9][3] falcoaria is also recorded in this century.^[9][3]
• 14th century – falcoeiro “falconer”.^[3]
• 1400s – the spelling falcão.^[2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau describes the bird and discusses the etymology.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais records the sense “cannon”.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A falcon or hawk, any of several birds of prey, used in falcoaria.^[2][12][1]
2. (Brazil) A bird of prey of the kind called gavião.^[4]
3. (heraldry) A charge showing a perched falcon.^[13]
4. (historical) A small-calibre gun with a long barrel.^[2][12]

Word family

• falcoaria
• falcoeiro

Related words

• Latin falco
• Galician falcón
• Spanish halcón

Usage notes

Falcão is also a Portuguese surname.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. falcão
3. ^ a b c d e f g Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. falcão
4. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. falcão
5. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. falcão
6. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. falco
7. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 307
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. falcō
9. ^ a b c d 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. falcon
10. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 94
11. ^ 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. falcaõ
12. ^ 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. falcão
13. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. falcão