fava

Forms

fava f (plural favas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin faba (“bean”), written Old Galician-Portuguese fava in the oldest texts and Old Galician-Portuguese faava in the 15th century.^[2][3][4][1]

The same Latin word is Galician faba, Asturian faba, Spanish haba, Catalan fava, Occitan fava, French fève and Italian fava.^[5][6]

The Latin noun goes back to *fabā; the Faliscan form was haba.^[7][8] Similar words for the bean are *bobъ, *baunō and bēan.^[7][1] Wiktionary traces them to *bʰabʰ-, but de Vaan finds that no Indo-European word can be reconstructed and thinks the Italic, Slavic and Germanic words independent loans from a similar European substrate word.^[1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first date, 1114, comes from Machado.^[2] Cunha dates the vernacular word to the 13th century.^[3] A cantiga d'escarnho of Johan Garcia de Guilhade quotes the proverb Cada casa, favas lavan “every house washes beans”, meaning that every household has troubles of its own.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau mentions an old derivation from Greek phagein “to eat”, explained by the bean being the pulse most eaten.^[11] Morais (1789) defines it as a pulse larger than the feijão, growing in thick pods, and says that fava is the generic name for many kinds.^[12] Caldas Aulete notes that in Brazil many varieties of feijão are called fava, and the name is now extended to several other leguminous plants.^[13][2]

From the shape of the seed come the sense “bean-shaped object”, a veterinary sense, a swelling of the palate in horses and mules, and the Brazilian miners' names for small rolled pebbles and white tourmaline.^[2][14] Fava branca and fava preta mean a vote for and a vote against.^[15][2]

Timeline

• 1114 – Houaiss's first date, after Machado.^[2]
• 13th century – favas in a cantiga d'escarnho of Johan Garcia de Guilhade.^[3][9]
• 15th century – the spelling faava.^[2]
• 1559 – first record of faveira.^[16]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists fava verde and cousa de fava.^[17]
• 1789 – Morais calls fava the generic name of many kinds of bean.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) The broad bean, Vicia faba, an annual leguminous plant with edible pods.^[2][18][1]
2. (botany) Any of several other plants of the legume family.^[2][18]
3. The pod of these plants.^[2][15]
4. The seed of these plants, eaten as food.^[2][18]
5. An object shaped like a bean.^[2][13]
6. (Brazil, mining) A small rolled pebble, mostly of hydrated titanium oxide.^[2]
7. (Bahia, mining) White tourmaline.^[2][14]
8. (veterinary) A swelling of the palate in horses and mules.^[2][15]

Word family

• faveira
• faveiro
• favela

Related words

• Latin faba
• Spanish haba

Usage notes

Several set phrases use the plural: favas contadas “counted beans” is something certain to happen, mandar às favas is to send someone packing, and pagar as favas is to pay for what others have done.^[2][15]

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 n o p Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. fava
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. fava
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. s.v. fava
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3117
6. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 294
7. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. faba
9. ^ a b 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. fava
10. ^ 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. fava
11. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. fava
12. ^ 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, 601
13. ^ 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. fava
14. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. fava
15. ^ a b c d Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. fava
16. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. faveira
17. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. fava
18. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. fava